New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) sent notices to the BJP and Congress chiefs Thursday after taking cognisance of complaints that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had violated the Model Code of Conduct. The poll body sought comments from J.P. Nadda and Mallikarjun Kharge by 11 am on 29 April.
The commission said it considered a political party a fundamental stakeholder in terms of regulation, consultation and facilitation within and about the electoral process. “Political parties will have to take primary and increasing responsibility for the conduct of their candidates in general and star campaigners in particular,” it said.
The ECI wrote in the notices, “In view of the foregoing and the plenary power of the political parties to nominate or withdraw the star campaigner’s status with associated responsibility and authority to control their star campaigners, the Commission has taken a view that while the individual star campaigner would continue to remain responsible for speeches made, the Commission will address party President/Head of the political party, on case-to-case basis.”
While the commission did not name PM Modi or Rahul Gandhi in its notices, it attached the complaints filed by the opposing parties.
“You are also directed, as President of the National Party, to bring to the notice of all your star campaigners to set high standards of political discourse and observe provisions of MCC in letter and spirit,” ECI told the two presidents.
The Congress, CPI and CPI(M) complained against Modi’s remarks that the Congress would distribute wealth to “infiltrators” and those who have “more children” if it stuck to former PM Manmohan Singh’s comments in 2006 that minority Muslims should have the “first claim on resources”.
The Congress, while giving five other instances of alleged poll code violation by the PM, said the statements made it evident that Modi has made “false and divisive insinuations, targeted at a particular religious community and a clear provocation to the general public to act out and breach peace, potentially against such a religious community”.
It further said that the PM “tried to mislead the voters by making these false and unverified allegations, which he knows to be untrue”.
The complaint filed under Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said the PM’s speech was violative of Representation of People Act, 1951, the Model Code of Conduct, the Indian Penal Code, the ECI’s instructions, and also formed “a part of larger and grossly problematic strategy of maliciously create enmity on grounds of religion and also tarnish the principal opposition party”.
Meanwhile, the Congress president was issued a notice, citing a complaint from the BJP, filed on 19 April, which mentioned two speeches by Rahul Gandhi and one comment from Kharge.
The complaint quoted Rahul saying during a rally in Kerala: “I get surprised when I hear the PM giving speeches where he says one nation, one language, and one religion. How can you tell people of Tamil Nadu to not speak Tamil, people of Kerala to not speak Malayalam, people… Every single Indian language is as important as any other language. BJP does this with language, place, caste and religion. Whenever they get an opportunity, they divide the country.”
BJP alleged that Gandhi, like in the case of Kerala, had also “tried in Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) to create a linguistic and cultural divide between the Tamil-speaking people and others” by levelling allegations that Modi “wants only one language in India, implying thereby that that the PM is against the Tamil language”.
“He is applying the same nefarious formula to create linguistic and cultural divide in the minds of people of India for electoral gains,” the complaint said.
The complaint also said the Congress president during a media event on 18 April claimed that “scheduled castes and tribes are discriminated against”.
To support this “malicious accusation”, he said he was not even invited to the Pran Pratishta of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on 22 January, the ruling party said. “It was extremely unfortunate that he even dragged the high office of the President of India into caste and tribe controversy in a manner most unbecoming of the President of a national political party.”
The complaint also stated that Kharge indulged in “grossly misleading the voters by declaring that BJP is going to change the Constitution if they win the elections. In fact, BJP never made such a statement”.
The BJP further said the two Congress leaders have violated provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Model Code of Conduct, advisories and instructions of the ECI.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)