Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the Election Commission (EC) of bias after the poll watchdog cleared Prime Minister Narendra Modi of any wrongdoing in two complaints each of violating the model code of conduct in speeches during his election campaign trail.

But the EC issued a show-cause notice to Congress President Rahul Gandhi on May 1 for his alleged remarks that the Modi government has enacted a new law which allows tribal to be shot at.

"EC is biased. EC is on a straight line when comes to BJP, with Congress it's different," Gandhi said in a press conference at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi.

On Friday, The Indian Express reported the EC’s decision to give a clean chit to Modi for his “minority-majority” speech at Wardha on April 1 and his appeal to first-time voters by invoking the Balakot air strikes in Latur on April 9 was not a unanimous one.

Modi, who has been cleared on three previous occasions for speeches made in election rallies, is facing two more complaints for an address in his home constituency of Varanasi on April 25 and for another speech in Maharashtra’s Nanded on April 6.

Against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah, one complaint was that in Nagpur, he had used communal remarks to describe Gandhi’s procession for filing his nomination in Kerala.

First Published:May 4, 2019 10:55 AM IST