The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP,) on the 7th of May, filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi, the President of the Indian National Congress (INC,) with the Election Commission of India (ECI.)
According to the BJP’s complaint, Rahul Gandhi intentionally violates the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and makes defamatory, baseless and repetitive allegations. The BJP claimed, Rahul Gandhi intentionally targets Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, the President of the BJP, even after getting a show cause notice from the ECI.
This is not the first time, the BJP filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi, BJP filed a total of 6 complaints seeking strict action against Gandhi.
Previously based on the BJP’s complaint, the ECI issued a show cause notice to Rahul Gandhi for his speech in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh.
Mr. Gandhi, on the 23rd of April, addressed a public rally at Shahdol and said, “Narendra Modi Government has made a new law for tribals in which there is a line that says tribals can be shot at…They snatch your land, take away your jungle and water and then say that tribals can be shot at (sic.)”
The other incidents highlighted by the BJP in their complaints are Gandhi repetitively calling Modi thief. The ECI issued several show cause notices to Mr. Gandhi for all his speeches and comments, as it violates the MCC and sought an explanation for the same.
However, busy with the campaigns, Rahul Gandhi demanded an extension till the 14th of May to give a reply to his comments.
Apart from Rahul Gandhi, the BJP also targeted Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal and filed a complaint with the ECI for violating the MCC, on the 6th of May.
The complaint states, in a video which went viral on the social media platforms, Ms. Banerjee was scolding a group of people for shouting slogans and threatening them.
The BJP said, “Banerjee was trying to intimidate the voters by telling them that they had to stay in the state even after the polls.”
The MCC is a set of guidelines, imposed during the Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections and continue till the results are announced. The MCC is mandatory to be followed by politicians and political parties to maintain smooth and fair elections.
However, the political parties and leaders are using the MCC as a weapon to target the opposition parties for their speech, comments and rallies and asks the ECI to take action against them.
After the enforcement of the MCC, the ECI got several complaints from several parties which accuse each other of violating the MCC.
As of now, the BJP has filed approximately 6 complaints against Rahul Gandhi, whereas Gandhi lodged 7 complaints against Modi.
However, the ECI issued show cause notice to Rahul Gandhi, whereas gave clean chit to PM Modi from all the lodged complaints against him.
The Lok Sabha elections started from the 11th of April and will continue till the 19th of May 2019.
The major parties contesting the Lok Sabha elections are the INC and the BJP.
The results of the Lok Sabha elections will be announced on the 23rd of May 2019.
Stay tuned for further updates about the Lok Sabha elections.
