The Election Commission on Tuesday sent a notice to DMK leader A. Raja for making “derogatory” and “obscene” comments about Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami while campaigning for the State Assembly elections, asking him to respond by 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
In its notice to Mr. Raja, who is a star campaigner for the party, the EC said it had received a complaint from the AIADMK via the Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer about comments he made on March 26 in Thousand Lights constituency. The EC cited two speeches of Mr. Raja, the first one at Keelapur at 7 p.m. where he said: “Stalin is a child of good relationship and good birth while Edapadi Palaniswamy is a child of bad relationship and a premature born child”.
The EC also cited another speech by Mr. Raja at Meensurupatti at 8.30 p.m. that day where he said: “You crawled and held Sasikala’s feet to cometo this position”, “...But EPS who considers is he having knowledge and dignity, just for the sake of CM post crawled and held Sasikala’s feet who is almost equal in age or to say who is 6 months younger. You crawled prayed on her feet, isnt it how you came….” and “Whereas, born in an illegal manner, in a premature birth is EPS”.
The EC said it was of the view that Mr. Raja’s speech was not only derogatory, but also obscene and lowered the “dignity of motherhood”, “which seems to be a serious violation of the Model Code of Conduct”.