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| Gujarat speech explanation sought |
| India's election authorities have demanded an explanation from a politician over remarks he made during an election meeting in western Gujarat.
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| INDIA
, 7-December-2007
1:21:32 AM |
| The state's chief minister, Narendra Modi, allegedly commented on the 2005 killing of a man by police in Gujarat.
According to Indian media, at Tuesday's meeting Mr Modi appeared to have "justified" the killing.
In April, three top policemen were charged with the murder of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, a Muslim civilian.
They are alleged to have attempted to cover up the killing by claiming he belonged to an Islamic militant group.
Mr Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government then admitted that the missing wife of Mr Sheikh, Kausar Bi, was also killed and her body was burnt.
'Violation'
A human rights group Citizens for Justice and Peace had lodged a complaint with the country's Election Commission alleging that Mr Modi's comments amounted to "blatant misuse of religion for political ends" and violated the election code of conduct
After studying the complaints and "various inputs", the Election Commission said Mr Modi's remarks, at the first instance, appeared to violate the election code of conduct.
"The references to [Mr Sheikh] and linking his name to terrorism, made in the speech, amounts to indulging in activity which may aggravate existing differences, creating mutual hatred and causing tension between different communities," the Election Commission said in a letter to Mr Modi.
"[This] would involve violation... of the model code of conduct," the letter said.
India's election code of conduct forbids any political party or candidate to "indulge in any activity" which creates religious tension, and prohibits places of worship to be used as "forum for election propaganda".
The Election Commission has asked Mr Modi to reply to the letter by Saturday afternoon.
Gujarat government lawyer KTS Tulsi has said he would resign if Mr Modi did not apologise for his remarks.
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