EC bars KCR from campaigning for 48 hours for making ‘derogatory statements’


The Election Commission on Wednesday barred Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao from campaigning for 48 hours for making derogatory and objectionable statements against Congress.

While strongly condemning the BRS leader’s statements and reprimanding him for the misconduct, the poll panel barred him from holding any public meetings, processions, rallies, shows and interviews, or making public utterances in media in connection with the ongoing elections for 48 hours, beginning from 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

The EC order will affect the ongoing bus yatra of KCR, as Rao is popularly called, as part of his campaign for the May 13 elections to the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. The Commission took the action after the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Telangana, sent a factual report following a complaint by the state Congress unit’s Senior Vice-President G. Niranjan that the BRS chief, at his press meet in Sircilla on April 5, made derogatory and objectionable statements against the Congress party.