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Updated May 8th, 2019 at 12:16 IST

Blow for Congress: Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking EC action against PM Modi and Amit Shah

The Congress has suffered a major blow in its attempt to take its complaints against PM Modi and Amit Shah's election speeches to the Supreme Court which has rejected party MP Sushmita Dev's plea in the matter.

Reported by: Ankit Prasad
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The Congress has suffered a major blow in its attempt to take its complaints against PM Modi and Amit Shah's election speeches to the Supreme Court which has rejected party MP Sushmita Dev's plea in the matter.

The apex court has agreed with the Election Commission's argument that it has already decided on the complaints listed by Sushmita Dev.

The plea's dismissal comes just a day after Dev had filed an additional affidavit in the court questioning the clean chit given by the EC to PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for all 'controversial' comments said in their many rallies.

In her affidavit, apart from listing the EC action against specific instances from Modi and Shah's speeches, she had also included the Prime Minister's controversial “Brashtachari No.1” remarks against his predecessor Rajiv Gandhi. Hours after her petition was filed, the Election Commission cleared the speech in question. 

"The speech mentioned in the complaint has been examined with a view to identify instances of violation of the model code of conduct. Prima facie, we did not figure out any literal violation of MCC as given in Election  Commission of India instructions. The case is therefore disposed off," the Election Commission said in response to the complaint.

READ | PM Modi Receives Clean Chit From Election Commission On Complaint Over 'Brashtachari No.1' Remark On Former PM Rajiv Gandhi

Also on Tuesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had written a blog post titled "Model Code of Conduct Does Not Take Away the Right to Free Speech" in which he had argued that 'of late, a tendency has developed amongst the political parties to excessively allege violation of the MCC by their opponents', and had gone on to call the Congress party the 'cry-baby' of these elections.

READ | 'Right To Free Speech Doesn't Get Suspended During Model Code Of Conduct', Argues Arun Jaitley Calling Congress The 'cry-baby' Of The 2019 Lok Sabha Elections

Sushmita Dev's affidavit had  given a comparison of the provocative statements said by other political leaders like Yogi Adityanath, Mayawati, Pragya Thakur, Maneka Gandhi, and others during rallies and the action taken by the EC varying from sending notice to imposing a timed ban on campaigning.

It had listed the following alleged violations regarding PM Modi and Amit Shah (apart from the Rajiv Gandhi remarks):

  • PM’s  violation of ECI’s March 9th, Circular on Defence Personnel - No action
  • PM’s Speech in Wardha invoking religion and the Armed Forces, Maharashtra - Dismissed without reason
  • PM’s speech in Latur, Maharashtra invoking Armed forces - Dismissed without reason
  • Speeches by PM invoking Defence Personnel and armed forces in Gujarat and Rajasthan - Dismissed without reason
  • Pre-emptive notice regarding PM’s road show in Gandhinagar, Gujarat - No action
  • Illegal and malafide road show by PM in Gandhinagar, Gujarat - No action
  • PM’s Speech on Balakot seeking to coopt armed forces for political propaganda - No action
  • PM’s speech in Varanasi invoking Defence Personnel- No action
  • PM’s corrupt practices under Section 123 (7) RPA, 1951 (Using Government Officials/Machinery) - Forwarded to Niti Aayog
  • Amit Shah’s speech invoking Defence personnel and armed forces in Krishnanagar, West Bengal - No action
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Published May 8th, 2019 at 12:03 IST

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