New Delhi: A group of 66 retired civil servants has written an open letter to the President of India, registering its concern over the compromised “independence, fairness, impartiality and efficiency” of the Election Commission of India.
The former officials have called out the ECI’s “inability” to check and reprimand the “misuse, abuse and blatant disregard of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by the ruling party at the Centre” prior to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“We are deeply concerned about the weak-kneed conduct of the ECI, which has reduced the credibility of this constitutional body to an all-time low,” the group has written.
The officials have cited a series of instances they argue are in blatant violation of the MCC.
On ASAT speech
The instances include Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 27 March televised address on India’s successful test of an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile, which they say was tantamount to “parading the achievements of a government”, and was thus a significant “breach of propriety”.
The officials have disagreed with the EC’s conclusion that the broadcast didn’t violate the MCC on technical grounds — that it was not made on a public broadcasting platform like Doordarshan or All India Radio.
Also read: PM Modi’s Mission Shakti broadcast didn’t violate Model Code of Conduct, says EC
On film, TV & web series
Another issue they have raised is the slated release of a biopic on PM Modi in the middle of the polls, which they call a “backdoor effort to garner free publicity for a political person (and his party)”.
“We contend that the entire expenses on the production, distribution and publicity of the biopic should be debited to the election expenses of Shri Narendra Modi,” they have written.
The same principle, they say, should be applied to the Eros Now web series Modi: A Common Man’s Journey. On the new NaMo TV channel, the officers say it is a “brazen violation of democratic norms” as the channel has been automatically “added to all subscribers’ accounts “as a launch offer” with “no option to delete the individual channel”.
On Tamil Nadu top cop
The group of officials has also asked for the DGP of Tamil Nadu, T.K. Rajendran, to not be assigned election duties due to an ongoing CBI investigation into his alleged involvement in the Gutkha scam.
On Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh
The letter has demanded the resignation or removal of Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, who had identified himself as a “BJP worker” and made an appeal to voters to re-elect Narendra Modi as PM on 25 March. The EC had written to President Ram Nath Kovind soon after the incident.
The officials have also demanded harsher redressal for statements like “Modi ji ki sena”, made by UP CM Yogi Adityanath in a rally last week, writing that such statements are a “deliberate attempt to mislead the general public, apart from damaging the tradition of the armed forces as apolitical formations”.
On ‘divisive speeches’
The group wants the EC to discourage all “divisive speeches, with clear innuendoes”, citing the example of the PM’s 1 April speech in Wardha, in which he said the Congress had insulted Hindus and was therefore scared of “contesting from constituencies dominated by the majority population”, referring to Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from a second seat, Kerala’s Wayanad.
On VVPAT
The group says the EC’s irregular meetings, conspicuous removal of dissenting members from expert committees and “reluctance to undertake a proper VVPAT audit” creates doubt about its intentions.
Also read: Why Model Code of Conduct for elections cannot act against offending politicians