EC issues show-cause notice to Kirron Kher on Congress complaint for using word ‘railgate’

CHANDIGARH: The Election Commission has issued show-cause notice to BJP’s candidate Kirron Kher on the basis of a complaint submitted by Congress party for using word ‘railgate’ in BJP’s poster, which was shared by Kher through her facebook and twitter account.
The Kirron Kher was asked to submit reply on Congress’s complaint within 24 hours.
The railgate scam was linked to Congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew.In the scam, Bansal was given clean chit by investigation agencies and now Bansal is prosecution witness in the case.
Confirming the development, MC Additional Commissioner Anil Kumar Garg, also nodal officer for the code of the conduct, said that Kher was issued show-cause notice and was asked to submit her reply within 24 hours.
The Congress in their complaint through advocate Pankaj Chandgothia had submitted that Kirron Kher in her twitter and facebook post, while referring to the need of monorail in Chandigarh had stated----“Also because Kirron Kher is not interested in Railgate”.
The Congress complaint reads, “The word railgate is maliciously used to defame former union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, though he has been given clean chit by the relevant investigative agencies in the alleged case……In fact, he has been made a prosecution witness in the alleged case”.
The Congress has termed it a violation of model code of conduct and had sought directions to Kirron Kher to withdraw her statement publically. The Congress also demanded to debar Kirron Kher from contesting and campaigning for the Loksabha elections 2019.
Member of Parliament Kirron Kher last month had posted a poster proposing monorail over metro, which reads, “because Kirron Kher is not interested in railgate — vote for honesty not corruption”.
Kher in her poster had further justified her rejection of the metro by saying, “Monorail comes at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore and metro comes at a cost of Rs 14,000 crore. Metro would require digging up the entire city and monorail won’t. Heritage cities like Istanbul have chosen monorail over metro because it doesn’t disturb the character of the city. Congress ke jhoot ka ghada na bhara hai na bharega.”