Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena Spokesperson Sanjay Raut openly challenged the Model Code of Conduct at an election rally in Mira-Bhayandar in Mumbai's suburb on Sunday, 14 April, according to NDTV.
“To hell with the law, we’ll deal with the Model Code of Conduct. We must speak out whatever comes to our mind, otherwise we feel claustrophobic.”Sanjay Raut, Rajya Sabha MP
The Election Commission, is however, yet to comment on Raut's remarks.
Responding to a question on his statement, Raut said that his blood boils when someone tries to intimidate him with the model code of conduct, reported ANI.
“When someone repeatedly tries to intimidate us with the law and MCC, then our blood boils. This is how we are and we cannot do anything about it,” Raut told ANI.
Further, he said, he does not care much about the law.
The Shiv Sena leader went on to say that such things happen during elections and when on the dais.
Raut, who is also the executive editor of Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana, was earlier issued a notice by the Mumbai district election officer for allegedly violating the MCC over his comments against the Communist Party of India’s candidate Kanhaiya Kumar.
Raut had written in the newspaper’s editorial that Kumar must be defeated in the Lok Sabha elections, even if it needed BJP to tamper with the EVMs.
(With inputs from NDTV and ANI.)
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