Congress seeks EC action against IPS officer Rashmi Shukla for MCC violation in Maharashtra
Mumbai: The Congress has called on the Election Commission (EC) to take action against senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla for allegedly breaching the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
According to Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe, Shukla, who previously served as Maharashtra’s Intelligence Chief and was the Director General of Police (DGP), met Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at his official residence on November 23, the day election results were declared. The MCC was still in force at the time. Fadnavis also holds the Home portfolio in the Maharashtra government.
Earlier this month, the EC directed the Maharashtra government to transfer Shukla following complaints from various political parties, including the Congress. The commission ordered her responsibilities to be reassigned to the next senior-most IPS officer.
Highlighting the meeting as a "clear violation" of the poll code, Londhe criticised the EC's apparent inaction, drawing comparisons to a similar incident in Telangana. In that case, then-DGP Anjani Kumar faced consequences for meeting the Chief Minister-designate during elections. Londhe alleged that the EC acts quickly in non-BJP states but remains lenient in BJP-ruled ones, questioning the neutrality of the institution.
Londhe also pointed to past controversies involving Shukla, including allegations of phone tapping targeting Opposition leaders. “Her meeting with the Home Minister during the poll code period is a blatant breach and warrants strict action,” he added.
The Congress has demanded accountability and urged the EC to act immediately against Shukla, describing the incident as a serious violation of electoral norms.
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PM Modi, RSS strengthening wall in path of SCs, STs, OBCs: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS were strengthening the wall standing in the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs, even as he acknowledged that the UPA took steps to weaken that wall but not to the extent it should have.
Addressing the 'Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyaan', Gandhi also referred to the function held on Constitution Day in Parliament and said that it is his guarantee, that "Modi has not read" the Constitution.
"If PM Modi would have read this book then what he does daily, he would not do it," Gandhi said, displaying a copy of the Constitution of India.
Gandhi said the country's whole system is pitted against Dalits, Adivasis and backward class people.
He said a wall obstructs the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs and Modi and the RSS are strengthening that wall by "adding cement to it".
"Slowly the wall (obstructing the path of SCs, STs, OBCs) is getting strengthened. Earlier, the UPA government gave MGNREGA, the land acquisition act, the right to food...those were ways to weaken that wall. Today, when I look back, I can say the UPA government did not weaken the wall to the extent it should have, it did not do it as strongly as it should have," Gandhi said.
"However, we used to make efforts to weaken that wall but they (the BJP) are strengthening that wall by adding concrete," the former Congress president said.
Gandhi said a caste survey being carried out in Telangana is a historic step and the Congress will do the same wherever it comes to power.
