New Delhi, Apr 30:
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response of the Election Commission on a plea by a Congress MP alleging Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah on their alleged hate speeches and using armed forces for “political propaganda”. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the poll panel was free to pass orders on complaint of Sushmita Dev, Congress Lok Sabha MP from Silchar in Assam and President of ‘All India Mahila Congress’. The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, fixed Dev’s plea for hearing on Thursday. Dev has alleged that “inaction” by EC on complaints against top BJP leaders was “a sign of invidious discrimination” as also “arbitrary, capricious and impermissible” as it was destructive of the integrity of electoral process. The plea listed out several alleged instances of MCC violations by Modi and Shah in their meetings and referred to as the first violation the speech of Modi at a rally at Wardha, Maharashtra, on April 1 where he had allegedly raised the issue of ‘bhagva aatankwad’ (saffron terror).
