EC issues notices to BJP and Congress for alleged poll code violations by PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi

The Election Commission on Thursday issued notices to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress seeking an explanation, by Monday, for alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi.

The Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission for political parties, candidates and governments to follow during an election. It sets guardrails for speeches, meetings, processions, election manifestos and other aspects of the polls.

In its letter to BJP National President JP Nadda and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, the Election Commission said that the parties’ star campaigners were expected to contribute to a “higher quality of discourse”. The poll panel directed Nadda and Kharge to inform all their star campaigners of the high standards of political discourse expected from them.

The Congress, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) had moved the Election Commission against Modi for his claims that the Congress plans to distribute citizens’ property among “infiltrators” if voted to power, in an apparent reference to Muslims.

At an election rally in Rajasthan on Sunday: “When the Congress-led government was in power, they had said that Muslims have the first right over the country’s assets. This means that they will...

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