Priyanka Gandhi gets EC notice over 'unverified' comments against PM Modi

The Election Commission on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for allegedly making unverified and false statements with regard to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Acting on a complaint made by the BJP that she had made "false" and "unverified" statements against Prime Minister Modi at an election rally in Madhya Pradesh recently, the poll panel asked her to explain her statements by 8 pm on Thursday.

In its representation to the poll panel, the BJP had accused Priyanka Gandhi of making a "baseless and false" claim that the Narendra Modi government had privatised public sector undertakings (PSUs).

She had purportedly alleged that Prime Minister Modi had given away PSU BHEL to his industrialist friends.

"Whereas, public generally believes that the statements made by the senior leader that too of a star campaigner of a national party are true, it is expected that such a leader is privy to and possesses factual base of the statements made by him/her. You must have verified the facts as stated so as to not leave any possibility of misleading the voters," the poll panel told the Congress leader.

The notice also recalled that the poll panel had recently expressed serious concern over "plummeting level" of public discourse and had advised all political parties to maintain dignity in electoral campaigning, desist from transgressing the limits of decency and refrain from attacks on the personal character and conduct of political rivals as they can vitiate the level-playing field.

This is the second EC notice issued to Priyanka Gandhi in the ongoing assembly polls in five states.