Jairam Ramesh slams ECI over 24-hour notice to Kharge on PM remarks

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh slammed the ECI for giving Mallikarjun Kharge only 24 hours to respond to charges over his "terrorist" remarks against PM Modi. He called the timeframe insufficient and requested a week to file a detailed response.

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Thursday criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI) for giving only 24 hours to Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge to respond to the charges levelled against him over "terrorist" remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

'Not Sufficient Time': Congress Slams ECI

In a letter addressed to the ECI, he expressed astonishment over the short span of time allotted to Kharge amid the Assembly elections 2026. "We would like to express our surprise at the short amount of time given to the Congress President to reply to the charges levelled against him in the Notice, i.e. 24 hours. You would have been aware that this is certainly not sufficient time given that the Congress President is in the middle of multiple campaigns," he wrote.

Criticising the Election Commission, the senior Congress leader said that the Chief Election Commissioner is seemingly executing the Notice as a formality rather than as an act in discharge of natural justice. He further asked the ECI for more time to file a detailed response within a week. "We seek time to file a detailed response within one week and also for a senior delegation of Congress leaders to present the same," he stated in the letter.

Ramesh Clarifies Kharge's Statement

Jairam Ramesh emphasised that Kharge has already given a clarification regarding the statement, where he explained that he never labelled the Prime Minister as a "terrorist", but rather highlighted how he threatens political parties and government institutions such as ED, I-T, and CBI. "Now coming to the context of the remarks/comments in question, they have already been clarified subsequently by the Congress President himself," he said.

"He (PM Modi) is terrorising people and political parties. I never said he is a terrorist...What I mean, I want to clarify, is that Modi always threatens. The institutions like ED, I-T and CBI are in his hands. He wants to take delimitation also into his hands. Therefore, I said, in that context, he is terrorising people and political parties. I never said he is a terrorist," he quoted Kharge's explanation.

ECI Accused of 'Ulterior Motives'

He slammed the ECI, saying that it seems like an attempt to deliberately twist the context of Kharge's statement to initiate an action against him. "It almost seems that an attempt is being made to deliberately overlook the clear and unequivocal explanation about the context in which the words were uttered, so as to find some way to take action against the Congress president. Unfortunately, it smacks of ulterior motives. The statement of the Congress President is sufficiently clear, and no member of the general public can claim otherwise," he said. (ANI)

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