The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged “divisive” speech in Maharashtra’s Wardha on April 1, saying that it found no instance of poll code violation in the PM’s address. While referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s decision to also contest from Kerala’s Wayanad constituency, Modi had said the party was taking “refuge in areas where majority is in minority”. This is the first time the commission took a call on the several complaints pending against the Prime Minister.

At the same time, the Supreme Court also sought response from the poll body on a plea by Congress MP Sushmita Dev, contending inaction by the poll panel on several complaints made against Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for violating the Model Code of Conduct, including hate speeches and using armed forces for “political propaganda”. A Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph sought the Election Commission’s reply in the matter and put it for consideration on Thursday. The court, however, said it would be open for the EC to pass its order.

Giving clean chit to Modi, the EC said after examining the Prime Minister’s speech at Maharashtra’s Wardha “in accordance with the extant guidelines/provisions of the Model Code of Conduct, the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra”, it was of the view that “in this matter no such violation has been noticed”.

“Accordingly, the commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation has been noticed,” the EC said. Complaining against the

Prime Minister’s speech in Wardha, the Congress had alleged that Modi made some “hateful, vile and divisive” remarks against Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

During the meeting, the EC s discussed the MCC violations by Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Congress president Rahul Gandhi as there were number of complaints pending with the commission.

While Modi and Shah have been accused of making “hate speeches” and “using” the armed forces for “political propaganda” during their Lok Sabha poll campaigns, the complaints against Rahul relate to his use of the “chowkidar chor hai” slogan and murder accused jibe at Shah. The complaints against Modi, Shah and Rahul were pending for the 2-4 weeks. The Commission meets every Tuesday and Thursday to discuss important issues. “The Election Commission secretariat has processed everything and placed the details before the Commission,” said the sources.

According to Congress, it has given 37 representations to the EC of which 10 can be categorised under “hate speeches, virulent, divisive, polarising” by Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

The EC had on Monday said that it would hold a meeting on Tuesday to decide on the complaints.

“Regarding the alleged complaints of violation of model code of conduct against senior leaders of two political parties, the Commission has already taken all the inputs and details and has scheduled a meeting on Tuesday for taking a decision on each of the issues,” Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar had told the media.

On the other hand, Congress MP Dev through her petition to the Supreme Court, sought a direction to the EC to act on complaints filed against Modi and Shah for “egregious” statements made in violation of the model code of conduct. She contended the complaints filed with the poll panel must be decided within 24 hours, saying the delay of over three weeks for “deliberate and repeated violations affected the level playing field and made the PM a habitual offender”.