Ahead of the upcoming third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission on Wednesday barred Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K Chandrashekar Rao from campaigning for 48 hours for his "objectionable" remarks against the Congress.
The poll body said KCR’s remarks during a presser at Sircilla on April 5 were “violative of the provisions of the model code of conduct and its advisories.”
According to the English transcript of his statement provided by the EC in its order shows, he used “invectives against the Congress” which is in power in Telangana.
The 48-hour ban of the former Telangana chief minister comes into force at 8 pm on Wednesday.
After Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, Rao is the second politician to be banned from campaigning for 48 hours in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
In his reply to a show-cause notice issued by the poll authority, Rao had claimed that his words were "twisted". He also said the local poll officials could not follow the local Telugu dialect.
The order served on him reminded that Rao had violated the poll code in the past elections too.
While strongly condemning him, the ECI used its constitutional powers to ban him from campaigning.
Earlier, a Congress leader had moved the poll panel against the BRS chief.
