Interview row: EC 0fficials to decide if model code violated

Election officials in Gujarat are going through Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi’s television interviews to see if any legal provisions related to the country’s poll code were violated by the channels which aired them, an official said on Thursday.

Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer B B Swain said all the videos of Gandhi’s interviews telecast on Wednesday had been obtained, reports PTI.

“The Election Commission yesterday directed us to take action after screening the videos of the interviews to decide if there was any violation of legal provisions, as prescribed under section 126(1)(b) of the Representation of People Act,” Swain told reporters in Gandhinagar. “Our officials acquired those videos today. The screening process has been initiated,” he said.

A political storm broke out on Wednesday after some Gujarati news channels aired Gandhi’s interviews on the eve of the second phase of the state Assembly elections, being held in Central and Northern Gujarat on Thursday.

The interviews were telecast a day after campaigning came to an end.

Following a complaint by the BJP, the EC issued a show cause notice to Gandhi for “prima facie” violating the provisions of the election law and the model code by granting interviews to the channels.