Days after inviting controversy over his statement on comparing the birth of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and DMK President MK Stalin during the election campaign in Chennai, DMK's Deputy General Secretary and party's Lok Sabha MP A Raja has on Thursday caught up with fresh trouble as the Election Commission of India has barred him from campaigning for the party for 48 hours.  

The development has come when Tamil Nadu is just a week ahead of the crucial assembly polls. On Thursday, the Election Commission said that its order has come into immediate effect and A Raja would refrain from campaigning for 48 hours. The Commission has also castigated the DMK leader for his remarks against the Chief Minister and the electoral body has also removed Raja from the list of DMK's star campaigners. 

Tamil Nadu will go to the single-phase on April 6 and the campaign would end on April 6 as per the election norms. According to reports,  the Election Commission has taken the decision to ban him after considering his written response filed to the Commission on a report sent by Satyabrata Sahoo, the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu. 

The commission has sent a notice to A Raja in which it has said, "The Election Commission of India debars you from campaigning for 48 hours with immediate effect, reprimands you for violation of model code of conduct and delists your name from the list of star campaigners of DMK". "The Commission also advises you to be watchful and not to make intemperate, indecent, derogatory, obscene remarks, and lowe the dignity of women in future during the election campaign".   

Last week, Raja was campaigning at the Thousand Lights Constituency in Chennai during which he compared the political career of Edappadi Palaniswami and MK Stalin to birth. He said that Stalin is a child of a good relationship and good birth while Edappadi Palaniswami is a child of a bad relationship and a prematurely born child. His speech had stirred major controversy and troubled the party that his speech would push the party to lose the votes from women. 

DMK President MK Stalin and party's MP Kanimozhi had also appealed to the DMK leaders and members to be cautious while speaking in the campaign. Raja was surfaced with demands to issue an apology and take back his statement. Chief Minister Edappadi Palanswami had broken into tears during the campaign and asked the people to think about how DMK respects women and what will happen if DMK comes to rule. 

With a widespread demand, A Raja and offered regret for his statement and said that he apologize for the remarks from the bottom of his heart. However, the Election Commission has found the ground of violation in his remarks. Earlier, it had sent a notice and said that the commission has found the contents of his speech were derogatory but also obscene and that they lower the dignity of motherhood of women. 

The Commission further said that this was a serious violation of the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct. The commission had directed Raja to send his response about his remarks. In his response to the Election Commission notice, the DMK MP said that his speech was taken out of context. He said that ADMK and BJP had falsely propagated that he insulted Palaniswami. He asserted that he had not spoken anything that is violative of the Model Code of Conduct, which is obscene or which will lower the dignity of mother or women. 

Raja had denied making any derogatory or defamatory speeches against the Chief Minister. However, the Election Commission didn't accept his response and on Thursday, it had barred Raja from campaigning for 48 hours and it also had removed him from the list of DMK's star campaigners. After the Election Commission's order of barring Raja from campaigning, the DMK has on Thursday moved to Madras High Court to challenge Election Commission's decision. The  High Court has said that DMK's plea doesn't warrant an urgent hearing of the matter. With the election is just days ahead, A Raja is surfaced with the questions of whether he will win the challenge by repealing the Election Commission's order or DMK will go to the poll by losing Raja from its star campaigners list.