On Thursday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) issued a show-cause notice to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over breaching of Model Code of Conduct and Representation of People Act. The Commission received a complaint which alleged Ms Vadra, of making false statements in respect to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a public meeting of the Indian National Congress held at Dausa, Rajasthan on 20 October.
Earlier, while addressing a rally in Dausa, Rajasthan, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said: “You must have seen, I saw on TV, I don’t know whether it is true or not, he (PM) had probably gone to Devnarayan ji’s temple some time ago, an envelope was put there by him, now I saw on TV that after 6 months it was put by the Prime Minister, the envelope is being opened. The public thought that God knew what would be in this envelope, such a great leader of the country, the Prime Minister, had come, and he had left this envelope as part of his donation. Opened the envelope and found out twenty-one rupees.”
“Now you tell me that in a way this is what is happening in the country, announcements are made by standing on big platforms, what kind of envelopes are being shown to you and when you open those envelopes till then the elections are over and then the turn comes to show the work promised but nothing happens,” added Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
After this remark, Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and Arjun Ram Meghwal, along with other party leaders including Anil Baluni and Om Pathak, on Wednesday, made a complaint against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to the Election Commission (EC) for violating the model code of conduct.
The EC has now issued a notice on the pretext of violation of clauses 2 and 3 of Part 1 General Conduct of Model Code of Conduct and asked to respond by 5 pm on October 30, if fail to reply EC will take action against the same without any further delay.
Read the notice here:
Election Commission of India issues show-cause notice to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for allegedly violating Model Code of Conduct guidelines during the election campaign in Rajasthan. BJP had submitted a complaint to the EC yesterday saying she made false, unverified… pic.twitter.com/zNaBXiODnN
— ANI (@ANI) October 26, 2023
EC had issued a similar notice to Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma for making communal remarks in poll-bound Chhattisgarh.
Polling in Rajasthan is scheduled for November 25 followed by counting on December 3.
