Rahul asked to respond to EC notice by Nov 8

The Election Commission (EC) Monday gave four days to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to respond to its notice on his speeches.

The notice also pertains to the speech in which Gandhi had alleged that youth affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots were approached by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Rahul Gandhi had sought a week's time to respond to the EC notice of Oct 31.

"The commission has considered your request for extension of time for submitting your reply and has decided to extend the time for reply to the said notice up to 11 a.m. Nov 8, 2013 (Friday)," an EC order said.

On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi was issued notice by the poll panel for his speeches in which he accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of causing communal flare ups and said that ISI was contacting the Muzaffarnagar riot victims.

The commission, in its notice, said Gandhi's election speeches in Churu in Rajasthan Oct 23 and Indore in Madhya Pradesh Oct 24 were prima facie "violative" of the model code of conduct and asked him to reply by Monday why action should not be taken against him.

The notice was issued on the complaints made by the BJP to the commission.

In a release, the EC said it viewed CDs of Gandhi's speeches and had detailed deliberations on the issue.