Lok Sabha Elections 2019: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi a clean chit for his 'bhrashtachari (corrupt) number 1' remark against former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, which the Congress party had termed as the violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). According to the EC, Modi did not violate the MCC when he made his remark while addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh on May 4. "Prima facie, we did not figure out any literal violation of MCC as given in the Election Commission of India instructions," the poll body said in a statement.


In the wake of PM's remark, a delegation of senior Congress leaders including Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Rajiv Shukla and Salman Khurshid had met officials of the Election Commission on Monday and had apprised the poll panel of their objection to the statement made by Prime Minister Modi against former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

While speaking at the rally, Prime Minister Modi had hit out at Rahul Gandhi, saying, "Your father was termed 'Mr Clean' by his courtiers, but his life ended as 'Bhrashtachari No 1.'" The remark also triggered a war of words between teachers of Delhi University, with one section condemning the comments and another supporting him.

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Besides, the EC on Tuesday had given clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in two more cases.

The Congress had alleged that he held a "roadshow" in Ahmedabad on April 23 and the sources said the commission has concluded that Modi did not violate the model code and the election law. The commission has also cleared Modi for his April 9 speech at Chitradurga in Karnataka where he had reportedly asked new voters to dedicate their vote for the heroes of the Balakot air strike.