lok-sabha-elections

Updated: May 03, 2019 00:39 IST

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Thursday issued a notice to Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi for allegedly using children in election campaigning.

The apex child rights body also wrote to the Election Commission citing an alleged violation of the model code of conduct that advises all political parties to ensure that children are not involved for “election purposes.”

The complaint refers to a video on social media where children can be purportedly heard shouting slogans of shout “chowkidar chor hai (the watchman is a thief) and using abusive language in the presence of the Congress leader, who can be allegedly seen admonishing them.

“The commission is in receipt of a complaint, wherein a video link has been shared, in which, it is seen that children are being actively involved in election campaigning. The children can be seen shouting slogans using derogatory remarks and using abusive language in your presence,” NCPCR wrote. The body has asked the Congress leader to provide details of the children within three days. This includes the names and addresses of these children, places where sloganeering took place and how the children reached there.

Union minister Smriti Irani also had slammed Gandhi over the clip on Twitter. “Imagine the filthiest of abuses that a prime minister has to endure from people whose only claim to fame is a nose,” she wrote.