New Delhi, Reacting to media reports that a poll panel member gave dissent note in one of the four complaints filed against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah’s speech, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday expressed satisfaction and said the Election Commission is finally showing some signs of life while urging other institutions to assert their freedom.
“With one member of the EC finding fault with Modi-Shah speeches and dissenting from the other two, the Election Commission is finally showing some signs of life!,” Mr Chidambaram said in a tweet.
The senior leader also expressed hope that in days to come, the poll body would reprimand the duo. “Closer to May 6, 12 and 19, the Election Commission may actually reprimand Mr Modi and Mr Shah. That means the fear of Modi-Shah is finally weakening,” he said in another tweet.
“I hope other institutions and the media will also shed the fear of Modi-Shah and assert their independence,” Mr Chidamabram said.
The Election Commission (EC) on Friday cleared Mr Modi and Mr Shah in four complaints of alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). However, the decision was not unanimous in one case.
The disagreement was on Shah’s speech in Nagpur on April 9 when he likened Wayanad, the second seat from where Congress president Rahul Gandhi is contesting, to Pakistan.The Commission’s decision favouring Mr Shah, was taken by a 2-1 majority, as per the reports.
Addressing the rally in Nagpur, the BJP Chief had said, “Aur yeh Rahul baba apne gathbandhan ke liye, Kerala ke andar aisi seat par jaakar khade juloos nikalta hai toh Bharat hai ya Pakistan ka juloos hai.
Maloom hi nahin padta, aisi jagah jaake khade hain. (And this Rahul baba, for the sake of his alliance, has gone to such a seat in Kerala where when a procession is taken out, you cannot make out whether it is India or a Pakistan procession. You cannot make out, to such a seat he has gone).’
Mr Shah said this in an apparent reference to a large number of Indian Union Muslim League flags (green in colour) seen during the procession when Gandhi filed his nomination papers from Wayanad on April 4.