NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar violated poll code: Election Commission

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar violated the Model Code of Conduct by commenting against the Congress’s NYAY scheme or minimum income guarantee plan, said the Election Commission on Friday. The poll body rejected Rajiv Kumar’s reply on calling it ‘not satisfactory.’

The poll body has conveyed its displeasure to NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar. "The commission has considered your reply and has not found the same to be satisfactory," the Election Commission said in a letter to Rajiv Kumar. "Public Servants should not only be impartial in their conduct but also in their public utterances, which was found wanting in the instant case," the letter also said.

"The Commission has decided to convey its displeasure to you for your comments and expects that you shall exercise caution in future," it said.

In his statement on NYAY scheme, Rajiv Kumar had accused the Congress of promising the moon to win elections. He had tweeted, "The proposed income guarantee scheme fails the economics test, fiscal discipline test and execution test."

In another tweet, Kumar had claimed that "true to its past record of promising the moon to win elections, Congress President announces a scheme that will bust fiscal discipline, create strong incentives against work and which will never be implemented."

In his response to Election Commission, Kumar told the poll body that he spoke against the Congress’s NYAY scheme not as part of the policy body but as an economist.