ECI ISSUES NOTICES OVER MCC VIOLATION COMPLAINTS AGAINST MODI, KHARGE, RAHUL

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday issued separate notices seeking responses by 11am on Monday to complaints of violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress chief Mallikaarjun Kharge and Member of Parliament (MP) Rahul Gandhi, underlining campaign speeches of star campaigner need to be judged “at a higher threshold of compliance”.

The notices came days after Modi’s comments at an election rally in Rajasthan on Sunday suggesting the Congress intended to redistribute public wealth to Muslims sparked a political row. Opposition leaders targeted Modi over the comments. Kharge called the remarks “hate speech”, and said that Modi had “lowered the dignity of political discourse”.

In the notice to the BJP chief JP Nadda, the ECI cited the representations of the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI), and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation or CPI (ML). “You [Nadda] 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,” the notice said.

The notice to Kharge referred to the BJP’s representation. It sought a response to the complaint against Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Kerala. The BJP accused Gandhi of “derisive and obnoxious utterances” against Modi.

EC’s notices did not mention relevant sections of MCC or the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that have been violated even as the attached complaints do. Neither notice mentions Modi or Gandhi by name.

The poll watchdog has sent show causes to individual star campaigners, including Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi. It has never sent such a notice to Modi individually despite the multiple complaints against him over the years.

In its complaint, the Congress highlighted a part of Modi’s speech in which he said when the party was in power it said Muslims have the first right to the country’s resources. Modi questioned who will they redistribute resources to. “Those who have more children. Those who are infiltrators. Will your hard-earned money be given to infiltrators? Will you accept that? The Congress manifesto says they will take stock of the gold owned by our mothers and sisters, and then they will redistribute that wealth. And distribute it to those who, according to the Manmohan Singh government, have the first right to resources — Muslims. This is Urban Naxal thinking, and mothers and sisters, they will not even spare your Mangalsutra. They will stoop to this level.”

In December 2006, then-Prime Minister Singh said, “We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on our resources.”

The Congress maintained Modi’s comments violated sections of the IPC and the MCC, a voluntary set of guidelines for political parties during the election season. MCC says no party or candidate shall include in “any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic.”

Modi’s comments prompted a flurry of complaints to the poll watchdog over the MCC violation. On Monday, a Congress delegation submitted to ECI that Modi’s speech was “illegal”. It accused the BJP of repeatedly using religious iconography in its Lok Sabha campaign. The Congress focussed on Modi’s speech and use of religious iconography. “...the Prime Minister’s statements to the voters is not only violative of the Representation of People Act, 1951, the Model Code of Conduct, Indian Penal Code, Hon’ble Commission’s instructions but also forms a part of [a] larger and grossly problematic strategy of maliciously create enmity on grounds of religion and also tarnish the principal opposition party based on rank falsehoods with a view to adversely impact the minds of the voters.”

The Congress said coming from a person holding the high office of the Prime Minister, any voter would be influenced. “Hence, the gravity of the offence is even more serious/egregious given that it is the Prime Minister of India who is making these false and reckless statements.”

The Congress listed Modi’s five MCC violations during the ongoing general campaign. The five instances related to Modi accusing Congress, the opposition bloc, and Rahul Gandhi of being against Hindu culture, and of appealing to voters to vote against the Congress as it is a party of sinners who oppose a particular religion.

In its complaint, the CPI on Tuesday called Modi’s statements “inflammatory and illegal” It said they promoted ill-feeling among communities” by referring to Muslims as “ghupetiye (infiltrators)” and “jinke jyada bachhe hain”.

The CPI (ML) in its complaint on Sunday said that Modi “has engaged in blatant lies, crudity and communal dog-whistling against the Muslim community”.

The ECI notices underlined star campaigners were expected to contribute to a higher quality of discourse by providing an all-India perspective, which sometimes gets distorted in the heat of the contests at the local level. “Thus, the expectation from Star Campaigners is to provide corrective action or a sort of healing touch, when [the] intensity of local campaign disrupts or inadvertently crosses over such boundaries.”

The ECI said that political parties will have to take primary and increasing responsibility for the conduct of their candidates in general and star campaigners in particular. It added national parties were expected to be the standard bearers in political and campaign discourse. “...as such [they] should also set high standards of compliance of the model code of conduct. ...the individual star campaigner would continue to remain responsible for speeches made.”

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2024-04-25T09:07:19Z dg43tfdfdgfd