HYDERABAD: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday banned BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao from campaigning for 48 hours beginning at 8 pm on Wednesday. The ban, the ECI said, was imposed over Chandrashekar Rao’s violation of the Model Code of Conduct and “misconduct” and that it “strongly condemns” statements made by the BRS chief at a press conference in Sircilla on April 5.
The ECI action follows a complaint from Congress’ senior vice-president for Telangana S. Niranjan on April 6 that Chandrashekar Rao made derogatory and objectionable remarks against the Congress and its leaders at a press conference in Sircilla.
Reacting to the ECI ban on his campaigning, Chandrashekar Rao, in the midst of his bus yatra of the state and addressing a roadshow meeting in Mahabubabad on Wednesday evening, said that he could not speak much as the ECI banned his campaigning for 48 hours.
The ECI, he said, “does not ban Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy despite him making objectionable comments about me.” He called on the BRS leaders and workers to campaign even harder over the next 96 hours to show their determination that they are not deterred by such bans.
The BRS also immediately launched an online campaign calling the ban a conspiracy hatched by the Congress and the BJP to silence Chandrashekar Rao’s voice.
The ECI said that in his reply, Chandrashekar Rao said officials in-charge of elections in Telangana and in Sircilla “are not Telugu people and hardly understand the local dialect of Telugu.” He also said some of his comments “were plucked out of context” and that the English translation of the sentences is not correct and twisted.”
However, the ECI imposed the ban on Chandrashekar Rao making it clear that his comments were in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
The ECI said comments in Sircilla were not a one-off instance of MCC violations by Chandrashekar Rao. It said the Commission has found that he “has not only violated the provisions of the MCC and the Commission’s instructions/advisory” on adhering to the Model Code “while making the objectionable and derogatory utterances on April 5, 2024 at Sircilla, but he has also been violating the MCC provisions during past elections.”
It recalled that Chandrashekar Rao was also ordered by it on May 17, 2019 to be careful and not violate the MCC following a public meeting in Karimnagar. Another advisory was issued on November 24, 2023 following a public meeting in Banswada asking “him to follow provisions of the MCC in letter and spirit.”
Timeline
April 5 – KCR holds a press conference in Siricilla, makes comments on Congress party and its leaders
April 6 – Congress party senior vice-president S Niranjan lodges complaint with ECI
April 16 – ECI issues notice to KCR, give time till April 18 to file response, BRS seeks an additional week to do so
April 23 – KCR files response to ECI
May 1 – ECI issues orders banning KCR from campaigning for 48 hours
