New Delhi: The Election Commission on Tuesday deferred a decision on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's reply to its notice over her controversial remarks during the poll campaign in Gujarat.
No decision could be taken on her reply as one of the Election Commissioners was indisposed, Deputy Election Commissioner JP Prakash said, though he declined to name that official.
He confirmed that a reply had been received from Gandhi, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Malhotra following notices to them.
Addressing an election rally in Saurashtra on December 3, Gandhi had used the phrase 'merchants of death' allegedly to describe the Narendra Modi Government in Gujarat.
Modi, in his reply, had next day virtually justified the extra-judicial killing of a Muslim youth, Sohrabuddin Sheikh, who was wrongly branded a terrorist.
On Saturday, Modi replied to a notice he had received from the poll panel, saying he was misquoted. He also demanded action against Gandhi, who was then issued a similar notice.
"We have filed an appropriate and detailed response," Congress spokesperson Abishek Manu Singhvi told reporters earlier.
Singhvi, who was authorised to respond to the Election Commission notice on behalf of the Congress chief, however, declined to give details of the reply.
"All I can assure you is that detailed reasons have been given to demonstrate that there is absolutely no question of violation of the model code of conduct," he said. According to party sources, the Congress has argued that Gandhi was not specifically referring to Modi in her remark.
Digvijay Singh, who too was served a notice by the poll panel for his reported remark on 'Hindu terrorism' in Gujarat, also replied to the notice. He denied newspaper reports that quoted his controversial remarks, and asked the commission to call the complainant to furnish more concrete material rather than make baseless complaints on hearsay.
"I may also clarify that if the entire speech, which is a subject matter of notice, is considered dispassionately by the commission, it will be crystal clear that I have not referred to or criticised any of the aspects of private life of any BJP leader nor have I criticised or made allegations on unverified and distorted facts," he said in his two-page response.
Congress leaders have done several u-turns on Gandhi's controversial remark. On Friday, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said the remarks were not aimed at Modi, but only at state functionaries. But on Saturday, Singhvi asserted that it was meant only for Modi.
However, Singhvi later retracted his earlier position and agreed with Sibal. On Monday, party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed also claimed that the party president was referring to "the political failure of the Gujarat administration".
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