The Congress on Monday told the Supreme Court that the Election Commission is not taking action on poll code violations by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, and asked for directions to the poll body to decide on such complaints within 24 hours.
In a petition, Congress MP Sushmita Dev said the poll watchdog had not acted on the party’s complaints against PM Modi and Amit Shah for three weeks.
Congress MP, Sushmita Dev, has filed a petition before the Supreme Court, seeking urgent and necessary directions to the Election Commission to take a decision on the complaints filed against PM Modi & BJP President Amit Shah over alleged violations of electoral laws (File pic) pic.twitter.com/z9bRKmevjq
— ANI (@ANI) April 29, 2019
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it will hear the Congress’s plea on Tuesday.
The Congress said PM Modi violated the model code of conduct with a speech at a rally in Gujarat on April 23, after he cast his vote and held a roadshow-type event.
Dev, in her petition, said the Modi-Shah duo used ‘hate speech’ at rallies to polarise voters, and referred to the operations by the armed forces in their ‘political propaganda’ despite the poll body’s ban.
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The Election Commission had last month categorically told political parties to ‘desist’ from referring to the military in their poll campaigns in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack and the Balakot airstrikes in February this year.
Meanwhile, the top court on Monday issued a notice to the EC and Union of India (UOI) after hearing a PIL filed by Mumbai based lawyer, Sunil Ahya, seeking to decriminalise complaint on malfunctioning of VVPAT/EVM, as presently it guarantees jail term and fine if the complaint is found false.
Supreme Court issues notice to ECI and Union of India (UOI) after hearing a PIL filed by Mumbai based lawyer, Sunil Ahya, seeking to decriminalise complaint on malfunctioning of VVPAT/EVM, as presently it guarantees jail term and fine if the complaint is found false. pic.twitter.com/pXzEv1gMHO
— ANI (@ANI) April 29, 2019