EC pores over Cong’s plaint against Modi’s speech

New Delhi: Amid mounting opposition pressure, the Election Commission is learnt to have started examining complaints against a speech made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajasthan in which he suggested that if the Congress came to power, it would redistribute the wealth of people to Muslims.

The Congress and the CPI-M had separately urged the poll panel against Modi's speech on Sunday. Modi on Sunday suggested that if the Congress came to power, it would redistribute the wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources.

Sources said the Election Commission has started examining complaints against the speech made by the prime minister. The Congress, while urging the Election Commission to take action against Modi for his "redistribution of wealth" remarks made in Rajasthan's Banswara, alleged they were 'divisive', 'malicious' and targeted a particular religious community.

Separately, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, in a post on X, also urged the Election Commission to take cognizance of the complaint and launch proceedings against Modi and the BJP. He also demanded that an FIR be lodged. "Urge the ECI to take cognisance of this latest complaint and immediately launch proceedings against Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). An FIR needs to be lodged for inciting communal passions and hatred," he said.

Congress leader and senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi said it was a "trial of the EC" too and the poll panel risks tarnishing its legacy and abandoning its Constitutional duty by setting a precedent of helpless inaction that will go down in infamy.