‘Public apology’: BJP approaches Election Commission against Mallikarjun Haq over ‘terrorist’ remarks, seeks action under poll code

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday sent a letter election commission of india (EC) seeks action against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for ‘terrorist’ remarks Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The party said Hager’s comments were “grossly derogatory” and breached the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).“As has been widely reported, Siri Haji, while addressing a gathering of Hon’ble Narendra Modi, said, ‘He is a terrorist.’ The statement has been widely circulated in print, television and digital media and has the potential to spoil the electoral atmosphere,” the BJP wrote in a formal complaint to the poll body.

The party argued that such remarks amounted to “extreme personal defamation” and violated the campaign speech norms imposed by the MCC in the poll-bound state of Tamil Nadu.Earlier in the day, Haq stirred controversy when he called Prime Minister Modi a “terrorist” at a press conference while criticizing the AIADMK-BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu. However, the Congress president later clarified that he meant the prime minister was “terrorizing people and the party” and insisted that he did not actually call him a terrorist.Now the BJP has reacted strongly and made five demands to the European Commission.The BJP urged the EC to “immediately recognize that the statement is prima facie a violation of the Model Code of Conduct” and sought direction to Haq to issue a “public apology/retraction of the statement” or face appropriate campaign restrictions.It also called for criminal action under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Sections 175, 171/174 and 356(1). “Calling competing political leaders ‘terrorists’ is more than just policy criticism; it is a serious indictment of personal character and conduct,” the party said.In addition, the BJP also requested the European Commission to “direct an immediate cessation of further dissemination of the challenged statements in campaign materials and digital communications” and to direct media outlets and social media platforms to remove such content.It also urged the poll body to “pass such further orders as may be necessary to uphold the dignity of the electoral process and ensure free, fair, peaceful and issue-based campaigning.”“Such remarks lower the level of campaign rhetoric, inflame passions, and undermine free and fair elections,” the letter stated.The party further claimed that “branding political opponents in criminal terror terms before voters amounts to an attempt to distort voter choice through fear, demonization and false personal branding, rather than legitimate political persuasion.”The complaint came hours after a heated campaign ended in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday night. The EC is yet to respond to the BJP’s letter.