New Delhi:

The BJP has sought one more week while the Congress 14 more days from the Election Commission to respond to notices issued to their party chiefs on complaints of model code violations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, respectively, sources said on Monday.

BJP president J P Nadda and Congress chief Kharge were on Thursday asked by the poll panel to respond to the notices by 11 am on Monday.

The BJP has asked for a week’s time to respond to the notice, sources in the Election Commission (EC) said.

The Congress had asked for time till 5 pm on Monday but, subsequently, it has asked for 14 more days to respond to the notice, they said.

There is no word yet on whether the commission has agreed to the requests of the BJP and the Congress.

Taking cognisance for the first time of a model code violation complaint against a prime minister, the EC had on Thursday issued a notice to Nadda on the opposition’s charge that Modi gave a divisive speech in Rajasthan’s Banswara.

Separately, the poll panel also issued a notice to Kharge, asking him to respond to the complaints filed by the BJP against him and Gandhi regarding their remarks.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Sitapur, UP:

A case of Model Code of Conduct violation was registered against BSP chief Mayawati’s nephew Akash Anand and four others on Sunday for allegedly using objectionable language at a poll rally here, police said.

The action came after the district administration took suo motu cognisance of Anand’s speech at the rally earlier in the day, they said.

“This government is a bulldozer government and a government of traitors. The party that leaves its youth hungry and enslaves its elderly is a terrorist government. Taliban runs such a government in Afghanistan,” the BSP leader said.

In his address, Anand also cited a National Crime Records Bureau report of 16,000 kidnapping incidents in the state and accused the government of failing to provide safety to women and children.

The BJP is a party of thieves who took Rs 16,000 crores through electoral bonds, he further alleged.

The case was registered against Anand, the BSP’s national coordinator, party candidates Mahendra Yadav, Shyam Awasthi and Akshay Kalra and rally organiser Vikas Rajvanshi, Superintendent of Police (Sitapur) Chakresh Mishra said.

He added that the case was registered under sections IPC 171C (undue influence at elections), 153B (imputation, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and section 125 of the RP Act (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election).

The speech was given to incite violence and with the use of unparliamentary language, violating the Model Code of Conduct, Mishra said.

Sitapur will vote in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls on May 13.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)