New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Tuesday issued a notice to Congress leader Randeep Surjewala for his undignified and uncivilized comments against Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Hema Malini.
The ECI has sought a response from the Congress leader latest by April 11 at 5 PM.
Also, the ECI demanded action from the Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on ensuring respectful public discourse towards women by party leaders and functionaries.
The poll body reiterated that election campaigns cannot be allowed to become a platform for any kind of dishonour to women.
The Congress President will have to submit the response by April 11 on steps taken by the party to ensure strict compliance of the Commission's advisories upholding the honour and dignity of women during public discourse by all party leaders.
Meanwhile, reacting to Surjewala's remark, Hema Malini on Thursday said that the leaders of the opposition should learn how to respect women from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"They target only popular people because targeting the unpopular ones won't do them any good... They should learn how to respect women from PM Narendra Modi," she said.
After facing a backlash from the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party over his alleged objectionable statement against BJP MP Hema Malini, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Thursday clarified that he never intended to insult or hurt the actor-politician.
Surjewala's clarification comes after BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya shared an undated video on X and accused the Congress MP of making some objectionable remarks about Hema Malini.
Referring to this, Surjewala said that the video posted by the BJP leader has been edited, distorted and shared to distract the country from the Modi government's anti-youth, anti-farmer, anti-poor policies and its conspiracy to destroy the Constitution of India.
"BJP's IT Cell has developed a habit of editing, distorting and spreading fake news so that it can distract the country from the Modi government's anti-youth, anti-farmer, anti-poor policies and failures and its conspiracy to destroy the Constitution of India," he said.
"Listen to the full video - I said, "We also respect Hema Malini a lot because she is married to Dharmendra ji and is our daughter-in-law," the Congress leader added.
—ANI