AHMEDABAD: Election authorities in
Gujarat
Thursday gave a warning to BJP MLA
Madhu Srivastava, accused of violating the model code of conduct by threatening voters during a rally in
Vadodara district
on April 3.
Vadodara collector and district election officer Shalini Agarwal said she has also directed the district superintendent of police (DSP) to conduct a further inquiry into the matter.
Srivastava is the sitting BJP MLA from
Waghodia
in Vadodara district.
On April 8, Agarwal had said a show-cause notice has been issued to the MLA after getting a complaint about the alleged breach of model code of conduct (MCC), in force for the April 23
Lok Sabha
polls in Gujarat, by him.
Srivastava was given two days, which ended Wednesday, to respond to the notice.
Without clearly saying that Srivastava had breached the MCC, Agarwal told media persons Thursday a warning has been issued to the lawmaker after receiving his explanation.
"The explanation given by him (Srivastava) is not acceptable. After going through that explanation and inquiry reports of our nodal officer for the model code of conduct, we have issued a letter to the MLA today.
"We have cautioned him and asked him to not to repeat it in the future. We have not given him a clean chit. We have asked him that action will be taken if such a thing happens in the future," Agarwal said.
"Our role was to see whether he had violated the model code of conduct. As far as the issue of threat to the voters is concerned, we have asked the DSP to conduct an inquiry from their side.
"It is up to the police to decide if an FIR can registered or not," she added.
On April 6, when a video of Srivastava's speech started doing the rounds on social media, the local Congress unit submitted a complaint to the election authorities.
The complaint was accompanied by a CD of the purported speech of the Waghodia legislator. After this, a show-cause notice was issued to the ruling party legislator.
Srivastava, a six-time MLA from Waghodia, has already denied the charges against him.
In the video, submitted by local Congress leaders to the collector, Srivastava can be heard purportedly threatening the people of Waghodia with dire consequences if they do not vote for the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
According to the Congress, the election rally, where the speech was made, was organised on April 3 in Waghodia on the outskirts of Vadodara city.
While canvassing for BJP candidate and sitting Vadodara MP Ranjan Bhatt, Srivastava purportedly said he will not spare voters, particularly those living illegally and not paying panchayat tax, if the BJPfails to win each and every booth in Waghodia.
Voting for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held in a single phase on April 23.