EC notice to DMK’s Udhayanidhi Stalin over his remarks on Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley
The notice was issued based on a complaint filed by BJP on April 2 alleging that Udhayanidhi Stalin, while addressing a political gathering in Dharapuram on March 31, reportedly said, “Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley died because they were unable to tolerate the torture they were subjected to and the pressure exerted on them by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
A complaint filed by AIADMK’s advocate wing joint secretary RM Babu Murugavel has alleged that Udhyanidhi Stalin deliberately violated the poll norms by wearing a shirt bearing the DMK’s poll symbol ‘Rising Sun’ and the party flag while casting his vote on Tuesday. (Express photo)
The Election Commission has issued a notice to DMK president MK Stalin’s son and party’s youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin for his remarks on BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. Udhayanidhi has been asked to explain his stand on or before 5 pm on Wednesday.
The notice was issued based on a complaint filed by BJP on April 2 alleging that Udhayanidhi, while addressing a political gathering in Dharapuram on March 31, reportedly said, “Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley died because they were unable to tolerate the torture they were subjected to and the pressure exerted on them by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
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The EC said that it is of the view that the content of the speech made by Udhayanidhi violates the provision of model code of conduct. “Parties and candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life, not connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties,” EC has said. “Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion should be avoided,” it added.
Meanwhile, the AIADMK has also filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer urging disqualification of Udhayanidhi for violating the poll code.
The complaint filed by AIADMK’s advocate wing joint secretary RM Babu Murugavel alleges that Udhyanidhi deliberately violated the poll norms by wearing a shirt bearing the DMK’s poll symbol ‘Rising Sun’ and the party flag while casting his vote on Tuesday.
Assembly elections were held in Tamil Nadu in a single phase on Tuesday.
In the first-ever election he is contesting, Udhayanidhi is fighting from the Chepauk-Triplicane constituency which was once represented by DMK patriarch and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.
Janardhan Koushik is Deputy Copy Editor of indianexpress.com. He is a New Media journalist with over five years of reporting experience in the industry. He has a keen interest in politics, sports, films, and other civic issues.
Janardhan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication from SRM Arts and Science College and a PG Diploma in New Media from Asian College of Journalism, one of the top ranked journalism schools in India.
He started his career with India Today group as a sub-editor as part of the sports team in 2016. He has also a wide experience as a script-writer having worked for short-films, pilot films as well as a radio jockey cum show producer while contributing for an online Tamil FM.
As a multilingual journalist, he actively tracks the latest development in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry utiling his well-established networks to contribute significantly to breaking news stories. He has also worked as a sports analyst for Star Sports. ... Read More
