Amit Shah’s Wayanad-Pak speech: EC clears him, one member dissenting

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The Election Commission (EC) Friday cleared Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah in four complaints of alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), of which at least one decision was not unanimous.

The disagreement in the poll panel 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 Shah, was taken by a 2-1 majority, The Indian Express has learnt.

(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).”

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.

“The matter has been examined in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of complete transcript of speech of six pages sent by DEO (District Electoral Officer) Nagpur, Commission is of the view that in this matter no such violation of MCC or ECI’s instructions is made out,” states the EC’s reply to Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on the party’s complaint regarding Shah’s Nagpur speech.

With the EC’s clean chit in this case, there are now at least three decisions pertaining to complaints of alleged MCC violations by Modi and Shah that had one Election Commissioner registering his dissent.