SC to hear Cong MP’s plea against PM, Shah today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear a Congress MP’s plea on Tuesday seeking direction to the Election Commission to decide without any ‘demur’ the complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah on their alleged hate speeches and using armed forces for ‘political propaganda’.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took note of the submissions of senior advocate AM Singhvi that the plea of Sushmita Dev, Congress Lok Sabha MP from Silchar in Assam and President of ‘All India Mahila Congress’, be accorded an urgent hearing as EC has not taken any decision on complaints of model code of conduct (MCC) violations against Modi and Shah.
Singhvi, along with lawyer Sunil Fernandes, alleged that BJP leaders have been violating MCC during last four weeks and the EC has not taken any decisions on as many as 40 complaints of Congress party.
The Silchar MP said she has been constrained to move to the apex court to seek direction to the EC ‘to expeditiously take action on multiple representations/ complaints pending before the ECI’ against Modi and Shah.
The plea listed out several alleged instances of MCC violations by Modi and Shah in their meetings and referred to as the first violation the speech of Modi at a rally at Wardha, Maharashtra, on April 1 where he had allegedly raised the issue of ‘bhagva aatankwad’ (saffron terror).
Modi had also allegedly raised the issue of the Congress president fighting polls from Wayanad in Kerala. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally where he gave a hate-speech and sought votes in the name of Armed Forces in Wardha, Maharashtra,” the plea further alleged.
The plea also referred to the EC’s circulars prohibiting parties and candidates from using pictures of armed forces for their political propaganda and using religions.
The plea said that under the Constitution, the poll panel is the ‘watchdog of free-and-fair elections and is duty-bound to circumvent the pressure and ascertain that ensuing elections are free from any impediments in order to uphold the democratic sanctity and fundamental rights of the voter.’ (PTI)