The ECI clearly turns a blind eye to egregious violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as is evident from an analysis of data on its website,
Two and a half months into the 18th Lok Sabha elections, a detailed analysis of data from the website of Election Commission of India (ECI), reveals that the poll body has issued 16 notices and orders for the violations of the Model Code of Conduct and relevant electoral laws since November 13, 2023. Unsurprisingly, the Congress and its leaders have been at the receiving end of such notices/orders with 6 in all, followed by BRS and BJP with 3 each, AAP with 2. One notice each has been issued to the Congress ruled Karnataka Government and Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (for violation of the MCC and stipulated conditions by BRS leader T. Harish Rao by publicising Rythu Bandhu scheme during the MCC period!). Data on previous notices prior to November 20923 is mysteriously missing from its website under “Current Issues” category
Where and when did the ECI issue notices for violation of the MCC?
Two notices and one order were issued against BJP, with one notice each being sent to State President, Delhi BJP (Virendra Sachdeva) and National President, Bharatiya Janta Party, JP Nadda on November 21, 2023 and April 25, 2024, respectively. The November 2023 notice was sent on the basis of the complaint filed by AAP, alleging that BJP Delhi’s social media handle had posted morphed images and videos to “ruin” the image of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. The April 2024 notice was issued after several political parties complained to ECI, highlighting Modi’s Banswara speech in which he referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” and “those having more children”, and accused Congress of contriving to take away the wealth of Hindus to redistribute it to Muslims. In a separate order issued on May 7, 2024, ECI asked ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) to take down the video uploaded on the ‘X’ by the account of Karnataka BJP (@BJP4Karnataka) targeting the minority and claiming that Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were giving funds to people from minority communities. The Karnataka BJP has however escaped from being served a notice by the ECI.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received two notices, with one delivered to the National Convenor, AAP, Arvind Kejriwal and the other sent to Atishi (AAP MLA from Kalkaji) in her individual but political capacity; the notices were delivered on November 14, 2023 and April 5, 2024, respectively. Both the notices were issued after BJP filed the complaints with the poll body. In the first complaint, BJP alleged that AAP’s social media posts scurrilously targeted PM Modi by spreading “false propaganda” and associating Modi with Industrialist Gautam Adani, suggesting quid pro quo relationship. In their second complaint, BJP allegedly that Atishi gave a baseless and false statement that she was lured by BJP to join their party.
Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) received three notices, dated November 24 and 25 in 2023, and one issued on May 1, 2024. All the three complaints were filed by Congress, on the basis of which notices were issued by ECI. In two of these notices, dated November 24 and May 1, the nature of the MCC violation pertained to the use of derogatory, provoking, slanderous statements against Congress. The other notice was issued in relation to the breach of the MCC as the then ruling BRS member KT Rama Rao politicised his visit at T-works, where he was found discussing about the recruitments and prospects of government jobs in Telangana.
Unsurprisingly, given the obvious orientation of the current ECI which is clearly partisan, Indian National Congress has topped the chart with ECI issuing six notices/orders to the party for the violation of the MCC and electoral laws in the given period between November 13, 2023 and May 8, 2024. The first notice was issued on November 14, 2023 against Priyanka Gandhi, general secretary of the AICC, for her statement suggesting that state-run BHEL was outsourced by Modi to its industrialist friends’. The BJP complaint had flagged her statement as unverified and false.
Two notices were issued on November 22, 2023 against the state (Rajasthan) and national head of Congress party (Govind Singh Dotasra and Mallikarjun Kharge, respectively) for advertising electoral promises in newspapers and on the social media platform, which the Election Commission considered violative of the MCC.
The very next day, on November 23, 2023, ECI sent a notice to Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament and star campaigner for the party, for his election speech in Rajasthan, where he compared Modi to pick pocket and called him “Panauti”. Furthermore, Gandhi had alleged in his speech that in the past nine years Modi government waived off loans’ worth lakhs of crores for big billionaires. Taking note of the BJP complaint, ECI flagged his speech as violative of MCC, Section 123 (2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RPA) and EC Advisory.
On April 25, 2024, INC president received another notice, this time against the remarks made by Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge (the president of the INC). The BJP complaint alleged that the speeches delivered by Gandhi in Kottayam (Kerala) and Tamil Nadu falsely accused BJP of promoting the idea of “one language” and “one religion”, giving the impression that BJP is against the people and culture of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The complaint accused Gandhi of indulging in linguistic and cultural divide, and said that his statements were false and misleading. Similarly, BJP had flagged Kharge for his remarks implying that he was discriminated against by BJP due to his Scheduled Caste status, and therefore not invited for Ram Temple ceremony.
The sixth complaint was received on April 26, 2024, on the complaint filed by BRS member, alleging that Congress made unsubstantiated allegations against BRS party and party member KT Rama Rao. The ECI noted that it “strongly censures” the said misconduct.
Why is ECI abdicating its role by inaction and no notice against the ruling BJP for its strong of hate speech?
The ECI has broad powers under Article 324 of the Constitution, including the power to supervise the machinery of elections throughout the country to ensure free and fair elections. Ensuring that elections are free and fair also means that they are a level playing field, untainted and unaffected by a deeply polarised public and political discourse. A grave question arises on whether the ECI is wilfully ignoring hate speeches and communal remarks delivered by members of the ruling party, given that the ECI can suo moto take cognizance of such instances even in the absence of formal complaints forthcoming?
The analysis of the notices sent by ECI to political parties and their leaders for poll code violations shows that BJP (which received only three notices as opposed to six sent to the largest opposition party) is either actually committing fewer violations of the MCC and the Representation of the People Act (RPA), or, as can be understood from a bare listing of the violations listed below, the poll body is looking away from the brazen violations.
Consider the following remarks made by BJP leaders since the MCC came into force on March 16, 2024 (MCC is effective from the date of announcement of poll schedule till its conclusion):
- On March 17, 2024, Tathagata Roy, BJP member and former governor of Meghalaya, had taken to post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to urge the home ministry to check genitalia of male candidates seeking citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act to confirm their religious background. Notably, CAA excludes the Muslim community from attaining fast tracked citizenship if India. Roy said that “The test of the religious status of a male must be circumcision or otherwise.”
- On April 19, 2024, while campaigning for BJP in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha Lok Sabha seat, PM Modi targeted sitting MP and Congress candidate Danish Ali, accusing him of having objections in chanting “Bharat Mata ki jai”. He said, “Will a person, who cannot accept Bharat Mata ki jai, look good in the Indian Parliament? Should such a person who does not like to pay gratitude to his motherland be allowed to enter Parliament.”
- On April 21, 2024, in Banswara district of Rajasthan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested that if the Congress comes to power, it would redistribute wealth of people to Muslims.
The excerpt from his speech reads, “…my mothers and sisters, they will not even leave your ‘Mangalsutra’. They can go to that level.” “The Congress manifesto says they will calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, get information about it and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom — Manmohan Singh’s government had said that Muslims have the first right on the country’s assets.” “Earlier, when their (Congress) government was in power, they had said that Muslims have the first right on the country’s assets. This means to whom will this property be distributed? It will be distributed among those who have more children.” “It will be distributed to the infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators? Do you approve of this?”
- On April 21, 2024, at Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath promoted the conspiracy theory of Love Jihad during an election rally.
Targeting Congress, Adityanath said, “Sisters and brothers, I ponder sometimes that even (our) mother cows were handed over to cattle smugglers and butchers, when jihadi activities were given free hand. What kind of incident had taken place with Bhuneshwar Sahu? I congratulate the public of Chhattisgarh for electing his father Ishwar Sahu as an MLA, paying a real tribute to Bhuneshwar Sahu. Bhuneshwar Sahu made only one mistake, that he opposed love jihad and Congress’s appeasement politics.”
- On April 22, 2024, during an election speech, Yogi Adityanath targeted Opposition leaders for allegedly reading the Fatiha (a short sura of the Quran considered an essential element of ritual prayer) on the graves of criminals and gangsters.
Adityanath remarked, “These people are reading Fatiha on graves of gangsters, you must give them five more years so they can keep doing so. The policies of the SP, Congress and BSP have jeopardised citizens’ safety.” “Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya after 500 years of struggle to find his abode in the grand temple of Ayodhya, it happened under the BJP government.”
- On April 23, 2024, in Amroha, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath repeated PM Narendra Modi’s communal talking points by repeating that Congress will redistribute country’s resources and wealth among Muslims and falsely claimed that Congress party intends to implement Sharia Law.
Adityanath said, “The Congress and its allies have betrayed the country and have once again come to you with their false manifesto. If you look at the Congress’ manifesto, they say that if they form a government, we will implement Sharia law.” “You tell me, will this country be run by the Constitution made by Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar or by Shariat?” “They say that we will again restore personal law. These people will implement Sharia law.” “Look at the condition of these shameless people. On one hand, they are eying on your property and on the other hand they are making the mafia and criminals their necklace and reciting Fatiha in their name.”
- On April 23, 2024, Narendra Modi delivered a speech during the election rally in Surguja, Chhattisgarh. He said, “Congress wants to loot away your wealth, even your gold. You all know whom they will give it to. You know.” “I want to unveil the “Muslim League” thinking of Congress. The Manifesto of Congress has taken up the idea of the Muslim League.” PM Modi repeated this charge in his April 25 rally held in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
- On April 26, 2024, at Guna, Madhya Pradesh, Home Minister Amit Shah used similar words for targeting the Muslim community and the opposition Congress party. He said, “They want to bring back Muslim personal law. Do you think this country can be run by Shariat Law? Do you think we should let them bring back triple talaq? Till the time BJP government is there, we will not let them bring back personal law. This country will only be run by UCC (Uniform Civil Code).” “We say that the resources of our country belong to SC, ST and OBC. They say that Muslims have the first right to every resource.”
- On April 26, 2024, in Malda, West Bengal, PM Modi attacked TMC and Congress, and alleged that “They want to bring in a very dangerous law which will take away the mangalsutras and gold of Adivasi women. They will take away the property of every citizen and give away a big chunk of it to their vote bank.” “The TMC party works towards bringing infiltrators from Bangladesh into the country. They let these infiltrators take over your land. And now Congress wants to give away your wealth to such infiltrators.”
- On April 27, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a rally in Karnataka’s Belagavi, claimed that “They (Congress) side with Aurangzeb parties, the man who killed cows and broke Temples…… Congress will take your wealth and distribute it to their ‘vote bank’.”
- On April 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a public meeting at Alladurga in Telangana’s Medak district as part of the ongoing election campaign. In his election speech, PM Modi said, “The Constitution makers…decided against religion-based quota and made it only for the SC/ST/BCs. But the Congress party and its ‘prince’ (Rahul Gandhi), are undermining the Indian Constitution by snatching away the rights of the marginalised sections by bringing quota for the Muslims through the backdoor for their vote bank politics.” “As long as I am alive, I will not allow…reservations for the SC/STs and BCs to be distributed to the Muslims at any cost”. “It is not Modi who built Ram Temple but your vote…”
- On May 1, at Hatkanangale, Maharashtra, UP CM Yogi Adityanath delivering an election speech said, “Congress wants to impose similar taxes…as Aurangzeb had done in his time. Will you accept this? These children of Aurangzeb are doing the work of rickshaw pullers in the current scenario and Congress wants to bring in inheritance laws.” “In the Congress Manifesto, these people have mentioned that they will let the minority communities eat as they please…These Congress people want to allow cow slaughter in our Maharashtra, in our India.” “By giving reservation to Muslims, the Congress party wants to Islamitize the country.”
- On May 2, in Anand, Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that ““[The opposition alliance] is asking Muslims to do ‘vote jihad’. This is new because we have so far heard about ‘love jihad’ and ‘land jihad’.” “I hope you all know what the meaning of jihad is and against whom it is waged.”
The content of the aforementioned speeches clearly reveal that the speakers not only violated the MCC, but also the provisions of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), which is legally enforceable. The ECI did not issue any notice against these speeches except for the one delivered on April 21 in Banswara, Rajasthan. Pertinently, the Banswara speech delivered by Modi seems to be only the starting point in the series of what may be called hate speeches given by the members of the ruling party. The said speeches clearly violate the MCC and the electoral laws as can be understood from the provisions of the MCC and the RPA.
ECI in its notices to political parties has consistently quoted that “Clause 2 of Part I ‘General Conduct’ of Model Code of Conduct for the guidance of Political Parties and Candidates’ provides that: – ‘Criticism of other political parties, when made, shall be confined to their policies and programme, past record and work. Parties and Candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life, not connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties. Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided.’”
Similarly, Section 123 (3) of the RPA considers it to be a corrupt practice if a candidate or his agent asks a voter “to vote or refrain from voting for any person on the ground of his religion, race, caste, community or language or the use of, or appeal to religious symbols or the use of, or appeal to, national symbols, such as the national flag or the national emblem…”
Section 123 (3A) of the RPA notes that corrupt practice would involve “The promotion of, or attempt to promote, feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of the citizens of India on grounds of religion, race, caste, community, or language, by a candidate or his agent or any other person with the consent of a candidate or his election agent for the furtherance of the prospects of the election of that candidate or for prejudicially affecting the election of any candidate.”
Section 125 of the RPA reads that “Any person who in connection with an election under this Act promotes or attempts to promote on grounds of religion, race, caste, community or language, feelings of enmity or hatred, between different classes of the citizens of India shall he punishable, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.”
While the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) does not have a statutory backing, making it legally non-binding, it nonetheless serves as a moral code for parties during the elections. Furthermore, ECI can temporarily ban political leaders and candidates from political campaigning in case of violation of the MCC. As for the RPA, it has a legal backing, and violation of Section 125 (Promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) carries punishment of 3 years of imprisonment or fine, or both.
Thus, it can be clearly concluded that, even after the flagrant violation of electoral norms and rules by the speakers as evident from the aforementioned provisions of the MCC and RPA, ECI has been reticent in its conduct. In addition, the conduct of the poll body goes against the rule of law, as evident from the disproportionate number of notices sent to opposition parties as compared to the ruling party. Furthermore, by ignoring plethora of hate speeches delivered by the ruling party members, the poll body seems to be far away from its stated ambition of ensuring “free and fair” elections.
Notably, the response of the ECI to these speeches, if at all forthcoming, is unlikely to hold these speakers accountable. The Indian Express had recently reported that in its response against Modi’s Pilibit speech, ECI is likely to conclude that “Narendra Modi’s reference to the construction of the Ram Temple in an election rally is not an appeal to vote in the name of religion. Mentioning the development of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor…the Sikh holy book…in a constituency with a sizeable Sikh population, does not violate the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).” The same report also noted that “it is also understood that the EC came to the conclusion that the PM’s speech did not promote enmity between communities, and that the mere mention of religion in a campaign speech is not sufficient for the EC to act, as it would unduly restrict a candidate’s freedom to campaign”.
The elections of 2024 will be marked by sharply partisan non-conduct from the statutory body, the ECI. The ECI has arguably contributed to contaminating the Indian political and public sphere by its one-sided action topped by brazen inaction in dealing with the aforementioned speeches by campaigners of the ruling regime. The content of all these speeches, misuse religious for political gain, slur and stigmatise certain sections of Indians and promote enmity between communities of our people.
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United Against Hate: CJP’s Battle for a Hate-Free Election in 2024! | CJP