The Karnataka Police have summoned BJP chief JP Nadda and IT cell head Amit Malviya over a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by the party”s state unit. The controversial video showed the Congress favouring Muslims for reservation at the cost of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes, a claim that has been repeated by several top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as part of the highly communal election campaign of the party.

A first information report (FIR), naming the two leaders, was registered at the High Grounds Police station in Bengaluru. The investigating officer has issued the summons to them and they have been given a week to appear.

After the Karnataka chief electoral officer asked the state BJP to remove the post, and its subsequent failure to do so, the Election Commission issued a notice to X on Tuesday to take it down.

Stating that the post violated the legal framework, the Election Commission said in its notice to X, “An FIR has already been registered in the matter. It is further brought to your notice that Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka through Cyber Crime Division, Bengaluru has already directed X on 05.05.2024 to take down the objectionable post as per Section 79(3)(b) of Information Technology Act and rule 3(1)(d) of The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. However, the post has not been taken down yet.”