Rahul Gandhi Gets Clean Chit by Election Commission Over Allegation of Violation of Model Code Conduct

New Delhi, May 2: The Election Commission on Thursday gave a clean chit to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, saying that no violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) had been done by him during his speech in Madhya Pradesh. In his speech in April, Rahul Gandhi had called Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah a "murder accused" and his son Jay Shah a "magician".

Giving a clean chit to Gandhi, EC officials said the “complaint was examined in detail and after examination of the complete transcript of speech sent by the district electoral officer of Jabalpur, the Commission is of the considered view that no violation of the model code of conduct is made out.” Gandhi made the purported remark during an election rally in Sihora district of Madhya Pradesh on April 23. Rahul Gandhi Citizenship Row: SC Likely to Hear Plea Seeking His Disqualification From Contesting Lok Sabha Elections.

"Murder accused Amit Shah, wah kya shan hai! (how glorious!).... Have you heard Jay Shah's name? He is a magician, he made Rs. 50,000 into Rs. 80 crore in 3 months," Gandhi had said. Reacting to Gandhi's jibe, Shah had said: "Let me tell you the gist of the order. I was slapped with a fake case and the court has already passed its order that it was a politically motivated allegation and was without any evidence. I don’t want to make any comment on the legal knowledge of Rahul Gandhi."

The BJP had complained to the Election Commission against Gandhi alleging that he violated the model code of conduct. On Wednesday, a metropolitan court summoned Gandhi for making the controversial remarks against the BJP president. The court summons followed a defamation suit filed by a BJP corporator in Ahmedabad. The metropolitan magistrate issued summons and directed the Congress chief to appear before it on July 9.

On Tuesday, the poll panel gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that no violation of Model Code of Conduct had been done by him during his speech at Wardha earlier this month in which he had accused Congress of using the term 'Hindu terror'. The commission, they said, was "of considered view that in this matter, no such violation was noticed".

In his speech, Modi had said that Congress used the term 'Hindu terror' and accused the party of insulting Hindus. Apparently targeting Congress President Rahul Gandhi for deciding to contest from Wayanad in addition to Amethi, Modi had said that leaders of that Congress were now scared of contesting from constituencies "dominated by the majority population".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 02, 2019 07:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).