The main demand that has been raised by those participating in this campaign is for the ECI to take action against Prime Minister Modi, and other few top leaders of the party, for seeking votes by invoking the issues of caste, class, places of worship and religion. ECI’s unwillingness to act over the recent speeches of PM Modi, where he has openly used anti-Muslim slurs and attempted to create a communally volatile environment, as a part of the election campaigning for the Lok Sabha election of 2024 has not gone unnoticed.

The calls for this nationwide protest stated “We, the people of India, must come together to demand that the ECI immediately takes action to protect our electoral democracy and Constitutional values. We must let the ECI know, that their inaction is neither going unnoticed, nor in any manner accepted by us.”

It further said, “While the EC has taken action against Congress, AAP, BRS etc. it has refused to take action against PM Modi or the BJP social media handles which have been spreading hate against Indian Muslims, at an unprecedented level. They refused to act against the BJP for using religious symbols and appealing to communal feelings for securing votes. Each day, the party’s official social media accounts are releasing videos filled with hate against the Muslim community, spreading the false message that welfare for the Muslims will threaten the lives of SCs, STs and OBCs.”

Thus, to urge the ECI to discharge their duty in accordance to the Constitution of India, rather than the whims and fancies of the ruling party, citizens and civil rights groups in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Pune sent the postcards.

Mumbai

Mumbai

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Hyderabad

Hyderabad

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Delhi

Delhi

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Pune

Pune

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Bengaluru

Bangaluru

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Citizens also wrote messages on these post cards, which included calls for saving the democracy and the Constitution of India to calling out the ECI for not taking any action against the BJP leaders for delivering hate speeches.

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The “grow a spine or resign” campaign was a hit on social media, with people taking to ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) and Instagram to write their messages criticising the silence of the constitutional authority.

Hey @ECISVEEP hat “insinuations and innuendos”? Are you kidding? Whole country is spitting at you, sending post cards even to grow a spine or to resign. You have one job. https://t.co/A5ZmB6fN45 pic.twitter.com/mpYRDKaRa7

— CreativeWolf (@CreativeWolf) May 10, 2024

#GrowASpineOrResign
Protests across India in front of Election Offices across India to protest against inaction by @ECISVEEP on innumerable malpractices on the ground before , during and after voting.

Postcards in thousands have been posted to the election commission today… pic.twitter.com/yJbQZKWy6D

— Shabnam Hashmi (@ShabnamHashmi) May 11, 2024

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Raghu Karnad (@raghukarnad)

Many citizens and groups also submitted joint letters and memorandums at the state election offices. As per a report of the Hindu, the activists in Bengaluru submitted a memorandum to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Karnataka holding the ECI accountable for its “inaction” against violations of the MCC and laws during the Lok Sabha elections. the same was also done in Mumbai with certain groups, including representatives from Mumbai groups giving a memorandum to the Chief Election Office, Maharashtra at Mantralaya, Mumbai at 11 am.

Related:

ECI faces ire over lack of transparency and discrepancy in poll data, the poll body dismisses the allegations in a detailed response

Series of poll violations by ruling BJP. Inaction by ECI says Independent Panel

ECI: Of 16 notices issued by ECI for violation of MCC/electoral laws, BJP escapes scrutiny with just 3 from the watchdog

The post #GrowASpineOrResign: Citizens’ mass city-wide protest against inaction by ECI over PM Modi’s hate speech & suppression of voters rights during ongoing election appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dated: 08-12-2023

Dear Sirs,

As you are well aware elections have become synonymous with democracy and should be conducted in such a manner so as to reflect the will and mandate of the electorate. There should be absolute faith in the electoral process and public trust in the authority conducting the elections. Unfortunately, it is not so now.

Attached herewith is the Memorandum (Text) signed electronically so far by over 6500 voters and the list of signatories. More are signing.  In addition, over 10,000 citizens have signed the Memorandum physically which is being sent separately. This has been done with our limited resources clearly indicating the huge trust-deficit that exists on the conduct of free and fair elections by the Election Commission. We are sending this by email because of late ECI has sealed itself and is not accessible to ordinary citizens like us who constitute the Indian democratic republic.

Please see the Memorandum the contents of which is self-explanatory. Link: https://www.change.org/p/ecisveep-eci-must-implement-its-constitutional-mandate-to-conduct-free-and-fair-election. Here are our demands which can substantially enhance the integrity and fairness of elections in India. These are pragmatic, well within the jurisdiction of ECI and doable within a short time. Please see that these are complied with immediately, well before the General Election to Parliament due in 2024.

1. Ensure the integrity of voting and counting

• The VVPAT system should be re-calibrated to be fully voter-verifiable. A voter should be able to get the VVPAT slip in her hand and cast it in a chip-free ballot box for the vote to be valid. These VVPAT slips should be fully counted first for all constituencies before the results are declared. For this purpose, VVPAT slips should be larger in size and must be printed in such a manner that they can be preserved for a minimum of five years.
• Subsequently, if need be, the results of the counting of VVPAT slips should be cross verified with the electronic tallies of the EVMs for every constituency before the results are declared. In case of any mismatch, the counting of the VVPAT slips should be treated as the final result as also laid down in Rule 56(d)(4)(b) of The Conduct of the Election (Amendment) Rules, 2013. Forms 17A (Register of electors) and Forms 17C (Account of votes recorded) must be tallied and be publicly disclosed at the end of polling on the polling day itself. Forms 17A and 17C should also be tallied with the manual count of VVPAT slips before the declaration of results.

2.  Ensure the integrity of Electoral Rolls

i    To prevent arbitrary deletions, the ECI must ensure that prior notice is issued to every voter whose name is proposed to be deleted. This has also been directed by the Supreme Court in its recent judgment dated 4-8-2023 in which it was stated “No deletion should be done without following due process of law as contained in the R P Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. In all cases a notice must be issued to the elector and must be duly served on him”. This is critical to ensure that no voter is left behind.

ii   The ECI should immediately implement a transparent and public system of Social Audit of Electoral Rolls. Voter’s lists must be publicly displayed in the most accessible manner and also made available on the ECI website in a searchable database. Citizens should be empowered to check their own information as well as that of bogus names and duplicates in their area.

3.  Rein-in Money Power

The ECI must strongly advocate for transparency in political party funding and ensure that money-power does not sway elections and their outcome. It must oppose electoral bonds that provide for unlimited anonymous funding of political parties.

We urge upon the ECI to immediately act on the suggestions above, lest India gets counted among the countries holding bogus elections at “regular intervals in an organised manner” but sans integrity and fairness.

This email along with attachments is being copied to the political parties and media with the hope that they will take it forward and save India’s democracy from diminishing and decaying.

Yours Truly

M G Devasahayam

Coordinator, Citizens Commission on Elections (CCE)

Link to CCE Reports Volume I and II: CCE Report – Reclaim the Republic

The post Memorandum to ECI to implement its constitutional mandate and conduct free and fair election appeared first on SabrangIndia.