EC seeks CD of Amit Shah`s speech from UP poll officials

New Delhi: The Election Commission has sought the original CD of Amit Shah`s speech from the Uttar Pradesh poll officials for handing it over to the BJP leader, who has been issued a notice for prima facie violation of the Model Code of Conduct over his "revenge" remarks.

Sources in the EC said that after the CD is received from the UP poll authorities and handed over to Shah, the poll body will initiate further action only after hearing the BJP leader further on the issue. Shah had yesterday urged the Election Commission to reconsider its notice to him for his alleged "revenge" remarks claiming the statement has not been recorded in the right perspective. In his reply to the EC, Shah denied having made any "revenge" remarks in his speech in western Uttar Pradesh and said he had not violated the Model Code of Conduct. He has sought a copy of the CD of his speech from the poll body. BJP also also put in a request to the EC seeking the transcript of Shah`s speech alleging it contains certain unwarranted insertions, apparently introduced by the UP administration, due to which the speech is not read in the right context. The party and Shah also denied having used the word "revenge" in his speech and charged the administration in Uttar Pradesh with working under Samajwadi Party government`s influence for putting non-existent words such as `badla` (revenge) in the mouth of Shah. Party leader R Ramakrishnan said a sentence from his speech made in Bijnore has been "deliberately omitted". He said that besides serious evidence of "doctoring", the transcript shows the "administration is deliberately keeping back the full text of the speeches, such that the Commission and the court may not keep the whole context in view. Any extract of a speech, as contrasted with a full text, can be tailored to give a flawed reading rather than an objective reading." "The omission of this sentence and the unwarranted introduction of the words `badla` make it appear that there was an exhortation to violence and revenge whereas Shri Amit Shah was only talking about change through the ballot box. In fact, the Bijnor text, read along with Shamli text, is a confirmation of the fact that the core appeal is to resort to the ballot box for vindicating their grievances rather than resorting to retaliation," BJP said.