Introduction
The Election Commission of India on April 25 issued the notice to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, following the complaint by BJP to the Commission on April 19, asking the latter to take action against Rahul Gandhi and Kharge for alleged violation of Model Code of Conduct, the Representation of Peoples Act (RPA), 1951, and the relevant Sections of Indian Penal Code, including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, language, residence, etc.), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 171C (undue influence at elections), 295A (outraging religious feelings of a class), 499 (defamation), and 505 (2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes).
In the complaint that was submitted by BJP’s Om Pathak to the Election Commission on April 19, Pathak had flagged two speeches delivered by Rahul Gandhi at Kottayam and Coimbatore on April 18 and April 12, respectively. In addition, Kharge was also flagged for his statement which he gave during his media interaction with Indian Express on April 18. Interestingly, the complaint invokes Section 123 (3A) (attempt to promote enmity between different classes) and Section 123 (4) (The publication by a candidate of any statement of fact which is false) of the RPA, strongly building its case on the latter.
The Commission in its notice has asked Kharge, as a president of National Party, “to bring to the notice of all…star campaigners to set high standards of political discourse and observe provisions of MCC in letter and spirit”. It remarked that “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”. It recorded in its notice that under Section 77 of RPA, the status of Star Campaigner is statutorily determined by the relevant party, and as a Star Campaigner, their speeches need to be judged at a higher threshold of compliance.
Importantly, commenting on the responsibilities of the parties to make them more accountable, transparent, and democratic, ECI emphasised that it is of a considered view that “political parties will have to take primary and increasing responsibility for the conduct of their candidates in general and star campaigners in particular.”
The Commission also attached the complaint received by it from the BJP against Rahul Gandhi and Kharge, on the basis of which the notice was issued. In its complaint, the Bharatiya Janta Party, apart from accusing Gandhi and Kharge of spreading lies against the PM, also provided links and excerpts to the news reports showcasing its achievements and the statements of the Prime Minister to contradict the accusations made against Modi.
Importantly, apart from the directives and mild reprimand, the notice does not envisage any coercive steps or legal action against the speaker(s) or the party, and merely reproduces the content of the complaint received by it. As a matter of fact, ECI also released a similar notice against BJP on the same date, regarding the complaints received against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the speech he delivered in Banswara on April 21, in which he accused the Congress of willing to distribute country’s wealth to Muslims, referring the latter as “intruders” and “those with more children”. On the political side of the things, ECI seems to have equated the two complaints, failing to differentiate the content and nature of the speeches, thus attempting to play down the criticism against its ominous silence over the hate speech delivered by the Prime Minister.
Details of the complaint against Rahul Gandhi and Kharge
One of the speeches which the BJP attacked as violative of electoral laws was delivered in Kottayam, Kerala, on April 18 by Rahul Gandhi. The excerpt from the speech as attached in the complaint reads as follow; “…If a daughter graduates from a university, her parents congratulate in Malayalam. When a brother loses the other brother, he communicates in Malayalam. Thus, Kerala is Malayalam, Malayalam is Kerala. I get surprised when I hear PM giving speeches where he says one nation, one language, and one religion. How can you tell people of Tamil 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…”
Accusing Gandhi of being “habitual serious offender”, BJP elaborates in its complaint that it had earlier flagged his other speech against PM Modi, for which he was given show cause notice by the ECI, but this has not stopped Gandhi from once again levelling “grossly malafide, patently false and utterly sinister allegations against the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.”
The complaint provides the following excerpt from Rahul Gandhi’s April 12 Coimbatore speech:
“They took away my Lok Sabha membership within a week. I was thrown out of the Lok Sabha….And when they spoke whole world listen because they knew these are not individuals speaking, this si the voice of the Tamil people speaking. And now the voice of the Tamil people is asking a few simple questions, it is asking Narendra Modi, Mr Adani and the RSS these questions. The first question is, why are you attacking our language, our history, and our tradition. You come here and you say I like dosas, and then you go back to Delhi and you say one nation, one leader, one language. Why one language, why not space for Tamil, why not space for Bengali, why not space for kannada, why not space for Manipuri…….So, you come here you tell the people of Tamil Nadu you like dosa and then you insult them and you attack their culture, their history and their language……Today most vice chancellors who are defining the way we educate our children are from the RSS. The bureaucratic system, the Election Commission, the legal system is all being infiltrated by the RSS and the RSS is placing their people in all these institutions…. This is the attack on the very idea of our nation. It is an attack on the Union of India. The BJP has clearly said that they are going to change the constitution if they win the elections. ……..”
Rejecting the accusation of promoting “one language” and “one religion”, BJP remarked that he (Rahul Gandhi) is applying the “nefarious formula to create linguistic and cultural divide in the minds of people of India for electoral gains”
The ruling party also tagged Kharge for his comments during his interaction at Indian Express Idea Exchange, in which he had said that scheduled castes and tribes are discriminated against and claimed that he was not even invited to the Pran Pratishta of Ram Lala in Ayodhya on 22nd January 2024. BJP remarked that his non-participation in the ceremony on 22nd January was “not attributable to any denial of invitation or discrimination or lack of respect shown to him. It is a matter of record that Ayodhya trust handed over formal invitation to him through its highest functionaries.”
Concluding its complaint, it requested the Commission to (i) direct Kharge and Gandhi to issue unconditional public apology; (ii) reprimand, censure, and restrain them from making any such “lies” during the remaining term of the “electioneering” and (iii) direct the registration of an FIR under the “stringent provisions of laws.”
The ECI notice can be found here:
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