NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea filed by Congress MP and party’s women wing president Susmita Dev accusing the Election Commission of shying away from taking action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for violation of Model Code of Conduct in their election speeches.
During the brief mentioning, senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for the Congress before a bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi, requested for urgent hearing, which agreed to hear the plea on Tuesday. Dev complained that the Congress had given verifiable evidence on MCC violations by Modi and Shah for delivering hate speeches and invoking armed forces in their campaign speeches despite a clear ban on it by poll panel.
The EC had last month categorically told political parties to desist from referring to the military in their campaigns in the wake of the Pulwama attack and the air strikes .
In her petition, Dev stated that PM Modi and Shah used hate speech at rallies to polarise voters, and referred to the operations by the armed forces in their political propaganda despite Election Commission’s ban.
The plea also stated that Modi violated the model code with a speech at a rally in Gujarat on April 23, after he cast his vote and held a roadshow.
‘Turning blind eye to MCC violation’
Congress MP from Silchar in Assam and president of All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev alleged that “inaction” by EC on complaints against top BJP leaders was “a sign of invidious discrimination” and was “arbitrary, capricious and impermissible” as it was destructive of the integrity of poll process.