NEW DELHI,24 April 2026: The Congress on Thursday filed a “summary response” and promised a detailed reply 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 If one of the notices was withdrawn, there is no mention of it in either of the notices, he said.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 Election Commission 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 Chief Election Commissioner is executing the notice as a formality rather than as an act in discharge of natural justice, Ramesh said.
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