BJP, Cong. seek time to reply to EC notice on code violation
Both parties miss the 11 a.m. deadline on Monday; the ruling BJP has requested a week’s time to comply with the directive, while the Congress wants 14 days to submit its response to poll body
The EC held that campaign speeches by those in high positions had more serious consequences
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday sought a week’s time to respond to the Election Commission’s (EC) notice issued to party president J.P. Nadda on complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while the Congress has sought 14 more days on a similar plaint against Rahul Gandhi.
Both parties were supposed to submit their responses by 11 a.m. on Monday.
The EC sources said that the Congress had initially sought time till 5 p.m. on Monday but later asked for 14 more days.
No names of leaders
On April 25, the EC had for the rst time issued a notice for violation of the Model Code of Conduct by Mr. Modi. However, taking a circuitous route, the notice was sent to Mr. Nadda and not to Mr. Modi directly. The notice failed even to mention the Prime Minister by name but the complaints attached along with it were those of the Congress, CPI(M) and so on, against Mr. Modi’s “malicious election speech delivered at Banswara (Rajasthan)”.
A similar notice issued to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge contained complaints against him and Mr. Gandhi. This notice, too, did not name any of the leaders.
‘Case-by-case basis’
The EC issuing the notices to the respective party presidents instead of the leaders concerned was considered unprecedented. In its notice to the BJP, the EC asked Mr. Nadda to get all the star campaigners of the party to “set high standards of political discourse and observe provisions of model code of conduct in letter and spirit”.
The EC said it had decided that while individual star campaigners would continue to remain responsible for the speeches they made, the Commission would address party chiefs “on a case-to-case basis”.
The poll panel also held that the campaign speeches made by those holding high positions had more serious consequences.
In the notice to Mr. Kharge, the EC included complaints led by the BJP, alleging that he and Mr. Gandhi had violated the MCC.
The BJP had claimed that during a speech in Kottayam on April 18, Mr. Gandhi made “false allegations” against the Prime Minister, stating that he had advocated for “one nation, one language, and one religion”. The notice also said that Mr. Kharge, in comments made to a publication, had said that President Droupadi Murmu was not invited to the Ram Temple consecration ceremony because she was a member of the Scheduled Tribe.