BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari gets EC notice for alleged ‘hate speech’ in Nandigram

After Cheif Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Election Commission of India issued a show cause notice to Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP candidate from Nandigram in West Bengal, for alleged communal references in one of his speeches last month, PTI reported. The leader has been given 24 hours to respond to the notice.

The speech under question is the one that Adhikari delivered during an election rally in his constituency, Nandigram. The complaint was filed by a Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML) member, Kavita Krishnan, who alleged that hate speech was delivered and was massively reported by media houses.

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In response to the complaint, the election body said that it has taken to two provisions of the Model Code of Conduct into consideration which state that criticism of other political parties, when made, shall be confined to their policies and programmes, past record and work. Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided.

The clause also states that there shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes.

The poll body has found Adhikari in violation of certain clauses of the model code and hence the notice was issued.

Before this, Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister, was also served with a violation notice by the poll body for campaigning on communal grounds after she appealed Muslim voters to not let their vote be split among different political parties.

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Three of the eight-phase assembly elections for West Bengal have been done. The next phase is scheduled for April 10, with the date of counting of result scheduled for May 2.