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Election Commission issues notice to Parrikar over bribe remark, seeks reply by Feb 9 

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NEW DELHI: The Election commission issued a fresh notice to Defence minister Manohar Parrikar while overruling his claims that his election speech in Goa made in Konkani was incorrectly translated.

The poll panel has said that the "CD (of his speech made on January 29 in Chimbel) has not been tampered with in any manner whatsoever". It also said the entire speech has been again transcripted and translated by a three-member committee.

The fresh transcript quotes Parrikar as saying that "Now somebody will give you 2000 rupees, three thousand. Calculate it. We give one thousand five hundred per month. In five years one thousand five hundred becomes ninety thousand and this will further increase....you vote him by taking Rs 2000 from someone. It is okay, somebody will hold a rally, there is no objection, someone rooms there with Rs 500. But vote shall be for lotus..."

Officials said that the poll panel had asked the chief electoral officer of Goa for his comments on the claim of the minister.

The EC had earlier sent a notice to the former Goa CM and had sought his reply by February 3. While seeking more time, he had said that what he had actually said was lost in translation.

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