After Wardha Speech, Modi Gets Clean Chit for ‘Dedicate Votes to Balakot’ Remark
NEW DELHI : PM Narendra Modi has been given a clean shit for his speech in Latur, Maharashtra when he had appealed to first-time voters to “dedicate” their votes to the “brave soldiers” who carried out the Balakot air strike and to the “braves martyred” in the Pulwama attack.
The commission said that after having examined “in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of the complete transcript of the speech of 11 pages,” no such violation was found to have been made.
The poll body said that there was no violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The commission said that after having examined “in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of the complete transcript of the speech of 11 pages,” no such violation was found to have been made.
The Election Commission had declared in March that the armed forces cannot be dragged into poll campaign after opposition complaints that the BJP was referring to the Pulwama terror attack and the Balakot air strikes while campaigning.
After the air strikes at a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp at Pakistan’s Balakot, the opposition had accused the BJP of trying to gain electoral benefits from the achievement of the Indian Air Force. It also accused the BJP of projecting itself as the only party concerned about national security, while portraying opposition parties as “anti-national”.
This is the second clean chit to PM Modi by the Election Commission in 24 hours. Yesterday, the poll body had said that the PM’s speech in Maharashtra’s Wardha, where he accused the Congress of insulting the Hindus through its party chief Rahul Gandhi’s candidature from Kerala’s Wayanad, does not violate the model code. It was the first time the commission took a call on the several complaints pending against the Prime Minister.
Earlier yesterday, the poll body had got a notice from the Supreme Court over a petition that accused it of “inaction” over complaints against PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Several complaints are pending in the commission that accuses them of delivering hate speeches and using armed forces for “political propaganda”.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it would hear the case next on Thursday. The Congress had said that even though the complaints have been pending for three weeks, the Commission has not responded.
(With Agency inputs ).
