New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked Congress MP Sushmita Dev to bring on record the Election Commission’s orders giving clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah on complaints of model code violations.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta has now listed the plea of Dev, a Congress MP from Silchar in Assam, for hearing on May 8.
Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, appearing for Dev, alleged that the poll panel has passed unreasoned orders dismissing the complaints of the Congress party on violations of the model code of conduct (MCC) by the prime minister and Shah, who are accused of politicising the armed forces during their campaign.
The bench asked the lawmaker to file an additional affidavit bringing on record the orders passed by the EC on the complaints.
The case dealt with the EC giving a “clean chit” to Modi for two of his speeches – one in Latur last month urging first time voters to dedicate their votes to those who conducted the Balakot airstrike and soldiers killed in the Pulwama attack, and the other in Wardha on April 1, where he suggested that Wayanad constituency has more voters from “the minority community”.
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In her plea, Dev alleged that “inaction” by the poll panel on complaints against top BJP leaders was “a sign of invidious discrimination” as also “arbitrary, capricious and impermissible” as it was destructive of the integrity of electoral process.