SC refuses to hear Cong plea for action against Modi, Shah

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday refused to further hear the plea of Congress MP Sushmita Dev seeking action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah for alleged poll code violations, saying the Election Commission has already decided the complaints.
The apex court said it cannot examine the merits of the EC orders, giving clean chits to the BJP leaders, as they gave rise to fresh cause of action for which another petition has to be filed.
Since the EC has decided “rightly” or “wrongly” the pending complaints against the Prime Minister and the BJP President, the merits of the orders can be challenged only by filing a fresh petition, said a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta.
“The petition has become infructuous as the Election Commission has taken decisions on the complaints,” the bench said. Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Dev, said the additional affidavit has been filed as the apex court had asked her to bring on record EC’s orders giving clean chit to Modi and Shah on complaints of MCC violations over their alleged hate speeches and using armed forces for “political propaganda”. Referring to various judgements, he said that the EC, being a constitutional body, is obliged to pass reasoned orders.
But unreasoned orders, summarily rejecting the complaints, have been passed. (PTI)