EC lets off BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari with a light rap for ‘mini-Pakistan’ remark

The Election Commission has let off BJP candidate from West Bengal’s Nandigram Suvendu Adhikari with a light rap for his “mini-Pakistan” remark made at a public meeting last month. In an order issued on Monday night, the poll panel warned Adhikari and said it “advises him to desist from using such statement while making public utterances during the period when Model Code of Conduct is in force”.

The order said the commission is of the considered view that Adhikari violated Para 2 and 3 of Part 1 ‘General Conduct of Model Code of Conduct for the Guidance of Political Parties and Candidates’.

Adhikari is pitted against West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, where polls were held earlier this month. The poll panel had received a complaint from Kavita Krishnan of CPI-ML Central Committee which alleged that Adhikari delivered a “hate speech” while addressing a public meeting in Nandigram on March 29.