NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (EC) has written to the Congress and BJP chiefs Mallikarjun Kharge and JP Nadda respectively, following complaints of mode conduct violation registered by the two parties against each other.
The EC has also written to the top leadership of the parties of their acts of omission and commission during Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly poll campaigns and sought their response.
Attaching the complaints with its communication to Kharge and Nadda, the EC asked them to comment on the complaints against star campaigners of the other party.
While the BJP had complained against Rahul Gandhi, the Congress had complained to the poll panel over some remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in their speeches.
The poll panel has sought formal responses from both the party presidents by 1 pm on Monday, while reminding them of EC’s earlier advisory dated May 22, 2024, during Lok Sabha Elections, to keep star campaigners and leaders under check so that “public decorum is not flouted and the model code of conduct is followed in letter and spirit” during election campaigns.
The EC asked Nadda to comment on the complaint filed by the Congress against the BJP.
In its letter to Kharge, the poll panel said, “It is in receipt of a complaint dated November 11 from BJP alleging violation of provisions of MCC by star campaigners of INC during the canvassing of current elections to legislative assemblies of Jharkhand and Maharashtra and several bye-elections.”
The poll body sent a similar letter to Nadda.
The BJP had on November 11 lodged a complaint with the ECI against Rahul Gandhi’s claim that the BJP wanted to “destroy the Constitution”.
Congress had complained to the EC on November 13 against PM Modi and Amit Shah alleging violation of MCC.
Party leader Jairam Ramesh, in a post on micro-blogging site X, accused the two senior BJP leaders of “divisive, false, and malicious speeches” in the poll-bound states.
“In his statements, Narendra Modi leveled allegations against prominent leaders of the INC and former Prime Ministers namely Late Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi,” Ramesh wrote.