'Smacks of ulterior motives': Congress responds to Election Commission's notice to Kharge over PM jibe

The Congress on 23 April filed a ‘summary response’ to the Election Commission's notice to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge for his ‘terrorist’ remark, saying it ‘smacks of ulterior motives’ as there is no violation of the model code of conduct or any other laws.

The opposition party sought time to file a detailed response within one week while filing the summary reply.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the two election commissioners, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "We are in receipt of two notices with the same number ... both dated 22.04.2026 and signed by two different officials of the Commission."

If one of the notices was withdrawn, there is no mention of it in either of the notices, he said.

"We would like to draw your attention to the fact that one of the notices even mentions that the so-called violation of the model code of conduct was based on a complaint by Shri Derek O'Brien of the All India Trinamool Congress dated 21.04.2026. The other notice, which is also uploaded on your website, has strangely dropped his name as the complainant," Ramesh said.

This indicates the casual and routine manner in which the EC is issuing show cause notices merely on the basis of the ruling party's complainants' versions and without any application of mind and by giving a time of mere 24 hours to file responses, he said.

Expressing surprise at the short time given to Kharge to reply to the charges levelled against him in the notice, Ramesh said, "You would have been aware this is certainly not sufficient time given that the Congress president is in the middle of multiple campaigns."

It almost seems the CEC is executing the notice as a formality rather than as an act in discharge of natural justice, Ramesh said.

"We seek time to file a detailed response within one week and also for a senior delegation of Congress leaders to present the same," he said.

In the summary response, Ramesh said the comments have already been clarified subsequently by Kharge himself.

"The clarification can be accessed at ... and the relevant portion is reproduced herein below: 'He (PM Modi) is terrorising people and political parties. I never said he is a terrorist... What I mean, I want to clarify, is that Modi always threatens. The institutions like ED, I-T and CBI are in his hands. He wants to take delimitation also into his hands. Therefore I said, in that context, he is terrorising people and political parties. I never said he is a terrorist'," Ramesh said.

This clarification was already available in the public domain, and by relying only on a quote taken out of context by the complainant and not looking at the entire comment, there does not seem to be any application of mind by the officials before hastily issuing this notice, he alleged.

It almost seems that an attempt is being made to deliberately overlook the clear and unequivocal explanation about the context in which the words were uttered, so as to find some way to take action against the Congress president, Ramesh claimed.

"Unfortunately, it smacks of ulterior motives. The statement of the Hon'ble Congress president is sufficiently clear and no member of the general public can claim otherwise. We categorically state that there is no violation of the MCC or any other laws," he said.

"We would also like to strongly object to the language adopted by your officials wherein they threaten to take action without making any further reference and despite the fact that they seem to have issued two different notices in a casual manner," he said.

In his letter, the Congress leader also drew attention to two "specific and recent violations".

First, Prime Minister Modi's address to the nation after this government's failure to pass the 131st constitutional amendment, he said.

"Aside from the PM's unsuccessful attempt to camouflage that as a defeat for women's reservation, it was, more importantly, a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. This is amply evident from his numerous attacks on the Indian National Congress by name, including where he accused the Congress of foeticide," he said.

The EC notice to Kharge came a day before polling in Tamil Nadu and the first phase of elections in West Bengal.

What did Kharge say?

Kharge on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Modi of "terrorising" political parties by misusing government machinery and central agencies to stifle the opposition, triggering strong reactions from the BJP, which attacked the Congress chief for calling Modi a "terrorist".

Addressing a press conference in Chennai, Kharge initially referred to the prime minister as a "terrorist" while criticising the AIADMK's alliance with the BJP.

Questioning how the AIADMK, a party rooted in the Dravidian ideologies of Periyar and C N Annadurai, could justify partnering with Prime Minister Modi, Kharge said, "How these AIADMK people, who themselves put the photo of Annadurai... How can they join Modi? He is a terrorist...

"He doesn't believe in equality. His party won't believe in equality and justice..." However, when asked by reporters to clarify the context of his remark, Kharge said he meant that the prime minister was "terrorising" the nation's democratic fabric.

"He is terrorising people and political parties. I never said he is a terrorist (in the literal sense). He is misusing his power and government machinery to abuse and malign the opposition parties," Kharge claimed.

(With agency inputs)