Following the BJP’s approach to the Election Commission (EC) against Rahul Gandhi and the Congress against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for alleged violations of the election code, the election commission on Saturday asked the presidents of the two parties to comment on the allegations brought to their leaders.

The EC has written separate letters to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, asking them to comment on the complaints filed by the other side.

The commission traded complaints between the two sides while seeking their responses.

The EC sought formal replies from both the party presidents by 1 pm on Monday (November 18), while reminding them of the panel’s earlier advice to them during the Lok Sabha elections to keep a check on activists and star leaders, thus so that it is not public decorum. violated and the model code is followed in its letter and spirit during the campaign.

Top leaders of the two parties are campaigning in Jharkhand and Maharashtra for the ongoing Assembly elections in the two states.

And during the Lok Sabha elections, the poll authority traded complaints filed by the two parties against each other’s star campaigners, including Modi, Shah, Gandhi and Kharge.

According to one of the complaints filed by the Congress, at election rallies in Nasik and Dhule in Maharashtra on November 8, Modi made a series of “false, malicious and defamatory statements targeting the Indian National Congress (INC) and its allies”.

“In his remarks, Shri Narendra Modi made allegations against prominent INC leaders and former Prime Ministers, namely late Jawaharlal Nehru, late Indira Gandhi and late Rajiv Gandhi…” the Congress EC said.

He also accused Shah of making “a bunch of false, divisive, malicious and slanderous statements about the Indian National Congress (INC) and its allies” at a poll rally in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad on 12 November.

“During his speech, Mr Shah claimed that the INC and its allies were against the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC); promoting terrorism in the country,” Congress told the probe committee.

See | Jharkhand Assembly Election: Phase 1 Voting Today

The BJP moved the EC against Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, for alleged violations of the election code during a rally in Mumbai.

He accused Gandhi of making false claims that big international brands were opening manufacturing plants in other states at the expense of Maharashtra.

The saffron party said Gandhi’s remarks were false and “totally unverified to true facts”.

It alleged that the Congress leader has “misrepresented the truth by stating that Apple iPhones and Boeing jets are manufactured in other Indian states at the expense of Maharashtra.

“Through his statements, Shri Rahul Gandhi has falsely accused other states of stealing and purportedly stealing opportunities from the state of Maharashtra,” the BJP EC said.

“He (Gandhi) has consistently made false, baseless, unverified and baseless allegations against the BJP. His ill-fated attempt to create a rift among the citizens of India on the basis of place, caste and religion is only aimed at electoral achievement. gains in the ongoing Assembly elections in the state of Maharashtra,” he said.

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