Election Commission issues notice to Rahul Gandhi for 'panauti' remarks against PM Modi

The Election Commission on Thursday issued a show-cause notice to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his 'panauti' and 'pickpocket' remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The poll body also asked the Congress leader to respond by 25th November.The BJP on Wednesday demanded action by the Election Commission against Rahul Gandhi for his ‘panauti’ and ‘pickpocket’ jibes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and recalled Indira Gandhi’s “insult” of the Indian hockey team in the 1982 Asian Games final while praising its leader’s encouragement to cricket players after their World Cup final loss.“The remarks of Kharge and Gandhi, who are indulging in spreading a web of lies and are habitual offenders, call for initiating criminal proceedings against these offenders and strict action as they have no respect for moral values in their conduct and even for the electoral laws as well as the Model Code of Conduct guidelines,” the party said in its memorandum to the EC.Gandhi, in a poll speech in Rajasthan, had used the ‘panauti’ barb against Modi as he had attended the World Cup cricket final which India lost to Australia after 10 consecutive wins in the tournament.The BJP also referred to the former Congress president’s ‘pickpocket’ dig at Modi during a poll speech in Madhya Pradesh on November 22 in which he alleged the prime minister diverts people’s attention while industrialist Gautam Adani picks people’s pockets. This is how pickpockets operate, he had alleged.The BJP in its submission to the EC said, “We request the Election Commission to intervene urgently by taking appropriate legal action against Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi for their continued fraudulent, baseless and abusive practice and to pass a prohibitory order against them,” the BJP delegation said in its communication to the EC.Otherwise, it will spoil the electoral environment, where “abusing, usage of objectionable and offensive language to defame respectable individuals and spreading false news will become inevitable”, it added.With inputs from PTI.