On the 1st of May, the Election Commission of India (ECI) gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi a second clean chit. The ECI cleared PM Modi stating he wasn’t guilty of violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) while giving a speech in Latur. The complaint was filed by Indian National Congress (INC) leader, Randeep Singh Surjewala.
However, the Electoral Officer of Maharashtra and several experts say PM Modi violated not just the Model Code of Conduct in his speech, but also violated the Representation of People’s Act. In the complaint, it was alleged that Modi referencing the Balakot airstrike was in direct violation of the code.
During his speech, Modi asked first time voters in the area to dedicate their first vote to those who carried out the Pulwama terror strikes. Talking about the complaint, local poll authorities in Maharashtra said Modi’s remarks were in direct violation of the directives given by the Model Code of Conduct.
While giving Modi a clean chit, the EC said the complaint was filed against Modi with regard to two lines from his speech. The decision was made only after listening to the whole speech and taking the entire statement into consideration.
Replying to the complaint filed by Randeep, the EC said in a statement, “The matter has been examined in the context of extant ECI’s advisory dated 04.12.2013, which was reiterated on 09.03.2019 and a sequel issued on 19.03.2019, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of complete transcript of speech of eleven pages as per the certified copy sent by the Returning Officer, 40-Osmanabad Parliamentary Constituency on 13.04.2019, the Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted”
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