EC bars K Chandrashekar Rao from campaigning for 'derogatory' remarks against Congress
PTC News Desk: The Election Commission has barred former Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrashekar Rao, also known as KCR, from campaigning for 48 hours over his "derogatory" remarks against the Congress. The 48-hour restriction goes into effect at 8 p.m. today evening.
According to the Election Commission, he has been prohibited from having any public meetings, public proceedings, public rallies, shows and interviews, or public utterances in media in connection with the present election, "strongly condemning his impugned statements".
The Congress filed a complaint to the election panel on April 6 over certain "objectionable" remarks made by KCR at a press conference in Telangana's Sircilla town the day before.
The commission had already issued a show-cause notice to KCR for the alleged remarks. Responding to the notice on April 23, the former Chief Minister rejected the charge. He stated that the substance of his initial statement may have been lost in translation, adding, "The officers in charge of elections in Telangana and Sircilla are not Telugu people and they hardly understand the local dialect of Telugu."
He also slammed the Congress for "taking some sentences from his press conference out of context." He stated that the English translations of the sentences were incorrect and twisted.
KCR also stated that his criticism was limited to the Congress's policies and programmes and that he made no personal attacks on any Congress leaders, according to the Election Commission.
After reviewing the text of the Congress complaint and KCR's response, the commission determined that the BRS chief "violated the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct."
K Chandrashekar Rao is the second politician prohibited from campaigning for 48 hours in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections, following Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.
- With inputs from agencies
