President Ram Nath Kovind is understood to have forwarded to the Home Ministry an Election Commission letter stating that Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh has violated the model code of conduct by making political comments.
Sources in the know said the President forwarded the letter to the home ministry for examination as per the laid down procedures. “It is a normal procedure. The home ministry, after receiving the letter, is expected to take legal opinion on it before formulating its opinion,” a source said.
On Tuesday, the Election Commission had written to the President pointing to the violation of model code of conduct by the Rajasthan Governor by making political comments. The poll panel had concluded that Singh’s remarks supporting the return of Narendra Modi as prime minister were violative of the model code. The EC had examined the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister’s remarks in the light of model code of conduct as holding a constitutional post makes him ‘apolitical.”
Addressing BJP workers at his Aligarh residence on March 23, Singh reportedly had said, “All of us are BJP workers and we want the party to win. We want Modiji to become the Prime Minister. It is necessary that Modiji becomes the Prime Minister again.”
Singh made these remarks to placate some agitated BJP members who had gathered outside his house over ticket distribution. In the 1990s, the Election Commission had expressed displeasure over the then governor of Himachal Pradesh, Gulsher Ahmed, campaigning for his son during the elections. He had later quit.