Congress Files Complaint with EC Against Gujarat Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary for Alleged Violation of MCC

On Friday, the Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, alleging that Gujarat Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary had violated the model code of conduct (MCC) by campaigning for the BJP and urged for appropriate action to be taken.

Asserting that a constitutional office bearer should refrain from campaigning for a political party, Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi, in a complaint dated April 11, urged the Election Commission to promptly take action against Chaudhary.

Doshi claimed that Chaudhary had organized a meeting in support of Banaskantha Lok Sabha BJP candidate Rekha Chaudhary, substantiating his claim with several video clips.

“Shri Shankar Chaudhary is the speaker of the Gujarat legislative assembly and has no right to campaign for any political party or any candidate,” Doshi said in his complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner.

The Congress leader said Chaudhary “ceased to be a member of a political party since the day he was appointed as the speaker of Gujarat state assembly”. As mentioned in Para-II of Chapter IX of ‘Parliamentary Traditions and Procedures Part-1’, “The moment a person becomes speaker, he becomes completely detached from political activities and he does not belong to any political party,” he said.

In his complaint, Doshi asserted that Chaudhary had contravened the principles outlined in Parliamentary Traditions and Procedure Part-1, Chapter-IX. Consequently, he urged for immediate action to be taken to prohibit Chaudhary from participating in any political campaigning for the 2024 parliamentary elections.