Six Speeches Cleared; Modi’s Tryst With ECI This Election Season

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Saturday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his Gujarat speech in which he had claimed that the Indian government had kept Pakistan on its toes to ensure the safe return of its pilot Captain Abhinandan Varthaman. This is the sixth clean chit to Modi by the poll watchdog. Sources said the decision on the April 21 Patan speech was unanimous.

Here are the last five instances where the poll watchdog ECI had given a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the alleged poll code violations.

• April 1: At a rally in Wardha in Maharashtra, the Prime Minister attacked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for contesting from the minority-dominated Wayanad seat in Kerala.

The Congress had filed a complaint in this regard.

• April 6: In his Nanded speech, Modi had reportedly said that the Congress today is like the sinking Titanic ship. All those who are in the ship, like the Nationalist Congress Party, are either sinking or jumping off to escape. Targeting Rahul Gandhi, he had said that the Congress chief had managed to zoom in on a seat using a microscope from which he can take on the BJP. Modi was apparently referring to the Wayanad seat in Kerala from where Gandhi is contesting, besides Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. He had reportedly said that in Wayanad, the country's majority is in minority. The election body found nothing wrong with his remarks.

• April 9: Modi appealed to first-time voters in Latur in Maharashtra by invoking the Balakot airstrike and the CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

The CPI-M had filed a complaint in this regard to the EC.

• April 21: Modi, at an election rally in Barmer in Rajasthan said that India's nuclear weapons were not kept for Diwali.

• April 25: Addressing a rally in Varanasi, Modi had stressed on national security, saying a new India gives a befitting reply to terrorism. At the meeting after a massive show of strength in his Lok Sabha constituency, Modi said his government had dealt effectively against terrorism. In an apparent reference to the Balakot air strike after Pakistan-based militants killed 40 paramilitary men in Pulwama, he said the world now backed India in its fight against terror.

Again, the EC had found nothing wrong in the prime minister's speech and gave him a clean chit, although according to Model Code of Conduct (MCC) rules, the speeches were liable for penalty.

Also Read: Surgical Strike 2: Narendra Modi Calls It A Festive Occasionc