‘EC a helpless puppet for not sending notice to Modi’

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Friday said the Election Commission seeking a response from the BJP instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Opposition charge that he gave a divisive speech in Rajasthan showed that it is a “helpless puppet”.

Taking cognisance for the first time of a model code violation complaint against a prime minister, the EC issued the notice to BJP president J P Nadda seeking his response to complaints filed by Congress, CPI, CPI (ML) and civil society groups regarding the remarks made by Modi on April 21 in Banswara.

These complaints had referred to Modi’s allegations that the Congress wanted to redistribute the wealth of the people to Muslims and that the opposition party won’t even spare the ‘mangalsutra’ of women. In a post on X, Sibal said, “Election Commission(EC): No ‘lal ankh’ to Modi. Seeks BJP’s response for Modi’s openly communal utterances. Shows that EC: helpless puppet; dare not send notice to Modi; ignorant of its own MCC; exposes itself to ridicule.”