Madhu Shrivastav's speech found to be violating code of conduct, decision on FIR left on police
While stating that BJP MLA Madhu Shrivastav's speech threatening voters was a violation of Model Code of Conduct, the Election Commission on Thursday left him off with a stern warning asking him to be careful in the future.
The EC also wrote to the police for appropriate action against the MLA.
"We have gone through his speech and found that it violated the Model Code of Conduct. We have issued a stern warning to him, and asked him to be careful in the future, and to strictly adhere to the code of conduct," Vadodara collector and district election officer Shalini Agrawal told reporters.
The election authorities had on Monday issued a notice to the MLA from Vaghodia seat in Vadodara for his April 3 speech where he allegedly threatened voters. In his reply to the notice, Shrivastav claimed that he had not threatened the voters, and blamed it on language issues.
"I am not from Gujarat. Gujarati is not my mother tongue. The same word can have different meanings, and I did not intend to or threaten the voters," Shrivastav, who has been representing Vaghodia seat in the assembly since 1995, wrote in his reply.
However, the Vadodara DEO said that they did not find Madhu Shrivastav's explanation to be acceptable.
She also said that they had written to the Vadodara SP and asked him to take a call on appropriate legal action against Shrivastav.
"The issue of threatening of voters falls under the police's purview, and hence we have written to police," she clarified.
A senior government official said that leaving the decision about filing of FIR on police was unusual, and the EC itself should have ordered an FIR against the BJP legislator.
State's chief electoral officer S Murali Krishna, however, said the Vadodara DEO had taken the decision after going through the contents of his reply.
Vadodara DSP Tarun Duggal, told DNA that they had not received any official communication so far.
Agrawal said that they had also submitted a detailed report into the case to the state's CEO.
Separately, Om Mathur, in charge of Gujarat BJP, said that the Madhu Shrivastav incident was an internal matter of BJP, and the party would take appropriate action. He also said that the party did not have any compulsions in acting against Shrivastav.
The alleged threat speech, in which Shrivastav, threatened people of dire consequences if they did not vote for the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections, was made at a rally in Vaghodia on April 3.
Later, Shrivastav had also threatened media-persons on being quizzed about the threat speech.
Language Barrier
The election authorities had on Monday issued a notice to the MLA from Vaghodia seat in Vadodara for his April 3 speech. In his reply to the notice, Shrivastav claimed that he had not threatened the voters, and blamed it on language issues
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