EC bans Congress leader Randeep Surjewala from campaigning for 48 hours over his remarks on Hema Malini

The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday banned Congress leader Randeep Surjewala from campaigning for 48 hours over his remarks on Hema Malini.

Earlier this month, the EC had issued a notice to Surjewala for his undignified and uncivilized comments against Bharatiya Janata Party's Mathura candidate Hema Malini.

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.

Hema Malini's reaction over remark
Reacting to Surjewala's remark, Hema Malini had previously 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 had clarified that he never intended to insult or hurt the actor-politician.

Surjewala's clarification came 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.

(With inputs from agencies)