Decide On Modi, Amit Shah ‘Hate Speeches' By May 6, SC Tells EC

Congress has alleged that the poll body was not applying rules uniformly

- Krishnadas Rajagopal

The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the Election Commission of India (EC) time till May 6 to take a final call on the complaints filed by the Congress against the alleged hate speeches and misuse of the armed forces as political propaganda by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

The Commission repeatedly protested, saying it would need time to call for the entire transcript of the speeches and decide the context of the allegedly offending words in them. This would take time, it said.

“So, you have today, then Friday and even Sunday... You can do it,” Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi told the Commission, represented by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi.

Mr. Dwivedi submitted that there were a total of 11 complaints against the two leaders. “Of this, four have been effectively decided. We need time till at least next Wednesday to decide on the rest,” he said.

But the court put its foot down. “You come on Monday,” CJI Gogoi responded.