Plea in Supreme Court against PM for violation of poll code

An Ahmedabad resident has filed a plea in the Supreme Court, seeking action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly violating the poll code during 2014 Lok Sabha elections by posting his selfie with the BJP’s symbol, “lotus,” on social media immediately after casting his vote.

The special leave petition, filed by Mr Nishant Varma against the Gujarat high court order which had dismissed his plea against the Prime Minister, said no investigation was made by the BJP government in Gujarat into the FIRs lodged against the then chief minister in the matter on the direction of the Election Commission.

Mr Varma contended that the high court was “erroneous” and that the Gujarat police had acted in a malafide manner to protect Mr Modi by filing a closure report in the case.

“Investigation agency involved in the present case has acted in a malafide manner in order to protect the respondent (Modi) from lawful prosecution for having committed various offences under the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 and the Indian Penal Code,” he said in his plea.

Mr Varma had earlier filed a complaint before a magisterial court alleging violation of the model code by the Prime Minister but the police filed a closure report, saying no offence was committed by him.

The magistrate, while accepting the closure report in August 2014, had dropped the proceedings against Mr Modi who had by then become the Prime Minister. This order was later upheld by the high court.

Seeking action against Mr Modi, Mr Varma said, “Before accepting the closure report, the metropolitan magistrate did not give any opportunity to the petitioner or the Election Commission of India to assail the report.”

The Election Commission had on April 30, 2014 directed that FIRs be registered against Mr Modi for violation of model code of conduct.