Udhayanidhi Stalin denies flouting MCC by his 'Jaitley-Sushma' remark, counters EC charge

DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin on Wednesday denied having violated the Model Code of Conduct by his remarks on late BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj. A day earlier, the Election Commission had issued him a show cause notice after BJP complained about his statement "Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley both died unable to tolerate pressure and torture given by Prime Minister Modi". In his response to the EC, Stalin dubbed the allegations "false" and requested the EC to furnish a transcript of his entire Dharapuram speech dated March 31 and a copy of BJP's complaint so that he can furnish a proper reply.

The DMK youth wing secretary claimed that he was responding to PM Modi's allegation that he reached high political office by adopting shortcut methods. Maintaining that he has no personal ill-will towards the PM, Jaitley and Swaraj, he stressed that the speech must be understood in its entirety. Urging the EC to accept this interim explanation, he lamented that the poll body hadn't taken any action against persons who commented on his personal life and family members including the late M Karunanidhi. 

In his formal explanation, the DMK's Chepauk-Triplicane candidate observed, "I said that I was having the list of leaders sidelined by him (PM Modi). I gave the names of Mr. Advani, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, late Mrs. Sushma Swaraj and late Mr. Arun Jaitley. The words 'pressure and torture' were not used by me in the said context as sought to be projected in the show cause notice and these English words cannot be read in isolation without referring to the entire text of the speech. My entire speech was in Tamil and the meaning conveyed in Tamil is totally different from the above words in the notice sent by you."

Here is Stalin Jr's response to the EC:

Tamil Nadu Assembly polls

In a significant political milestone in TN politics, AIADMK returned to power in 2016 under the leadership of Jayalalithaa for a successive term. In the 234-member Assembly, AIADMK won a whopping 135 seats in contrast to DMK whose candidates could win from 98 constituencies. In this year's Assembly election, the MK Stalin-led party fought in an alliance with Congress, CPI, MDMK, VCK, IUML and MMK while AIADMK's allies included BJP, PMK and smaller parties.

Meanwhile, AMMK joined hands with AIMIM, SDPI and actor Vijayakant-led DMDK. On the other hand, MNM tied with up All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi and Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi. The polling for the Assembly election in Tamil Nadu took place on April 6 with a voter turnout of 72.81% whereas the election results shall be declared on May 2