Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a petition filed by Congress MP Sushmita Dev, seeking urgent and necessary directions to the Election Commission of India to take a decision on the complaints filed against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah over alleged violation of electoral laws.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it would hear the petition tomorrow (April 30).
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Sushmita Dev, alleged that PM Modi and Amit Shah violated the Model Code of Conduct and the Election Commission was not acting on her complaint.
Singhvi said four weeks have passed since the Model Code of Conduct was enforced in the country and both -- the prime minister and Shah -- had been allegedly violating the code.
In the petition, Sushmita Dev reportedly claimed that the two leaders violated the poll code under three categories - polarisation of votes, invoking armed forces in the campaigns, taking out rallies on an election day.
Earlier the Congress had said the Model Code of Conduct had become a ‘Modi Code of Conduct’. “We are astonished and sadly compelled to say that the model code of conduct has become the ‘Modi Code of Conduct’…We are saddened to say that as if in the second word in the Election Commission, the letter ‘C’ has been dropped and it has become the Election Omission as far as Modi-Shah duo is concerned,” Singhvi said.
The voting in 72 Parliamentary constituencies across nine states is underway today. The results will be declared on May 23.
