The Election Commission Friday gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi a fourth clean chit after it found that his speech in Maharashtra’s Nanded on April 6 did not violate the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
While targetting Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his decision to contest from Wayanad besides Amethi, the Prime Minister had referred to the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency as one where the “country’s majority is in minority”.
The poll watchdog had given the first clean chit to PM Modi over similar remarks made at a poll rally in Wardha on April 1. He had then said that the Congress party was “running away from majority-dominated areas” to “take refuge in areas where the majority is in minority”.
The Supreme Court, which is hearing Congress MP Sushmita Dev’s petition demanding urgent action on EC’s behalf on alleged MCC violations by Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, has asked the Commission to decide all Congress’s complaints against Shah and Modi before May 6.
On Friday, The Indian Express had reported the Commission’s decision to give a clean chit to Modi for his “minority-majority” speech at Wardha on April 1 and his appeal to first-time voters by invoking the Balakot air strikes in Latur on April 9 was not a unanimous one. In both cases, one Commissioner had dissented and the EC’s final decisions, in favour of the PM, was taken by a majority of 2-1.