Rajkot: The District Election Officer (DEO) and Rajkot Collector have given a clean chit to Union Minister Parshottam Rupala, who is BJP candidate from the Rajkot Lok Sabha seat, for the statement he made at a private gathering on March 22nd.

The investigation report submitted by DEO Prabhav Joshi to the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat has surfaced. The report states that Rupala’s speech does not target any religion or caste, including the Kshatriya community, as kings and maharajas belonged to different castes. Moreover, the location where Rupala spoke was not a political gathering, and the video in question is incomplete, thus not violating the Model Code of Conduct for Lok Sabha Elections.

The DEO mentioned in his report that an investigation was conducted regarding the allegations against Rupala after the complaint was filed on March 30th by Santopsinh Rathod and Gajendra Singh Jhala. The complaint was investigated by the Nodal Officer, Code of Conduct, Deputy Commissioner of Rajkot Municipal Corporation, and Assistant Election Officer of the 69-Rajkot Legislative Assembly Electoral Division.

The investigation revealed that the video in question was of a Dairo-Bhajan programme held at the residence of Rajkot resident Jogirajbhai Parmar, commemorating the death of his father, Dayabhai Parmar. It was not a political or public meeting, and the remarks by Rupala were not related to an election or public gathering. Additionally, there were no election campaign banners, hoardings, or symbols of any political party present at the event.

The report further states that, due to the incomplete audio-video content, no clear conclusion can be drawn. The term “Maharaja” used in the video’s discourse refers to individuals from different religions and castes, indicating no violation of the Model Code of Conduct. Therefore, Rupala has been given a clean chit in this matter. DeshGujarat