The Election Commission Wednesday held “internal consultations” on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on India successfully testing an anti-satellite missile. Senior officials said comments from the government would soon be sought on the circumstances and urgency for the address.
Election Commission officials told The Indian Express that what is already under examination by them are the precedents of such a national address by the Prime Minister shortly before the Lok Sabha polls and whether “ national security” could be invoked by the ruling NDA for the urgency of the address.
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There are indications that the Election Commission was taken by surprise with the development and that Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has given instructions for the transcript of the address to be analysed carefully by EC officials and another review is likely to be undertaken on Thursday.
Election Commission sources said they would also be looking into the “origins” of the Prime Minister’s address to find out if the coordination and preparations for it were done within the Prime Minister’s Office or the Ministry of Defence.
Meanwhile, the CPM and the TMC approached the EC and claimed that the Prime Minister’s address to the nation was a violation of the model code of conduct. In a tweet, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said: “Well done DRDO, extremely proud of your work. I would also like to wish the PM a very happy World Theatre Day.”