The Supreme Court will take up on Tuesday Congress MP Sushmita Dev’s plea for a directive to the Election Commission to take action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah for alleged violations of the model code of conduct. Dev said “the Prime Minister and the party in power have for the past five years fostered and cultivated an atmosphere of communal tension for their petty political gains”. However, the respondents are guarded and oblivious to the comprehensive representations/complaints… that have been filed by the petitioner’s party against the Prime Minister and Mr Amit Shah.”The plea said the “inaction” was a sign of “invidious discrimination” and was “arbitrary, capricious and impermissible”. The petition said the alleged statements by Modi and Shah amounted to clear attempts to pollute and destroy the political discourse and influence the outcome of the election through unfair means. It was, therefore, urging the court to direct the Election Commission “to expeditiously take action on (the) multiple representations/complaints pending before the ECI” against Modi and Shah, the plea said.

Source: The Telegraph April 30, 2019 01:30 UTC