The Election Commission of India (EC) has directed the Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to submit a report on Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh’s controversial remarks on Narendra Modi.
Singh had courted controversy when he had told reporters in Aligarh on 23 March that “everyone wants Modi to win and it is necessary for the country”.
The EC, as per a report in The Indian Express, will examine the matter in the light of the only precedent available to them from the early 1990s.
Back then, the poll panel had pulled up Gulsher Ahmad, the then Governor of Himachal Pradesh, for campaigning for his son Sayeed Ahmed in Madhya Pradesh, the report added.
In that particular instance, Ahmad had resigned after the EC had slammed the misuse of official machinery.
‘Modi Should Become PM Again’
Singh had said that he genuinely wants the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“We want that once again Narendra Modi should become the prime minister. It is important for nation and society that Modi should become PM again,” he had said, as per ANI.
Singh who has previously served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was appointed as the Governor of Rajasthan in 2014.
A governor is considered a neutral democratic post and is expected to maintain his impartial stance while in office.
Not the First Time
This is not the first time that Singh has courted controversy. Earlier in February, Singh had spoken in favour of scrapping Article 370, which grants special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir.
“The time has come to scrap Article 370 as it encourages separatists. This, in turn, poses a threat to the country’s unity and integrity. Jammu and Kashmir will largely benefit from scrapping Article 370,” he had told ANI.
He had also said that only Modi could successfully implement this: "Nobody else is capable enough of doing this. We are sure that he will take stringent action against terrorism. Our army is very capable, we are sure they will teach Pakistan a lesson."
(With inputs from The Indian Express, ANI)
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