The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a public interest plea seeking to restrain Prime Minister Narendra Modi from seeking votes in the name of religious deities and places of worship and disqualify him from contesting elections for six years for allegedly making hate speeches and invoking religion during his campaign rallies.
Asking the PIL petitioner Fatima to approach the authorities concerned, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Satish Chandra Sharma allowed her to withdraw the plea as it (bench) was not inclined to entertain it.
“You must approach authority. If you want to withdraw, we will permit you,” the bench told the advocate appearing for the PIL petitioner, Fatima. The advocate agreed to withdraw the PIL.
The PIL petitioner had sought direction that the Prime Minister be restrained from seeking votes in the name of religious deities and places of worship.
The PIL petitioner has alleged that the speech made by the Prime Minister at Banswara on April 21 is inflammatory and against communal harmony. It referred to other speeches made by Modi during campaigning.
The top court also dismissed another petition which sought directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to act against Prime Minister Modi and Union Minister Anurag Thakur for their alleged hate speeches during ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The petition stated that the poll panel had completely “failed in its duty to conduct free and fair elections” as per the mandate of the Constitution by permitting repeated violations of not just of the Model Code of Conduct, but other laws as well.