Rahul's comment on Amit Shah 'murder-accused' doesn't flout rules: EC

Gandhi remarked about BJP president during an election rally in Sihora district of Madhya Pradesh on April 23.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi didn't violate the model code of conduct when in a speech he called his BJP counterpart Amit Shah a "murder accused", said the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday.

Gandhi made the purported remark during an election rally in Sihora district of Madhya Pradesh on April 23. "Murder accused BJP chief Amit Shah. Wah, kya shaan hai! (Wow, what a glory!)" he reportedly said.

The BJP complained, but EC officials said they examined the transcript of Gandhi's speech and view that no violation of the model code of conduct is made out."

The remark had prompted a strong rebuttal from Shah, who questioned the opposition leader's "legal knowledge" and said the "fake" charge was dismissed as "politically motivated" by the court long ago.

"Let me tell you the gist of the order. I was slapped with a fake case and the court has already passed its order that it was a politically motivated allegation and was without any evidence. I don't want to make any comment on the legal knowledge of Rahul Gandhi," he said.

In 2014, a special court discharged Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati encounter killing cases, holding there existed "no case" against him and that he had been implicated for "political reasons".