The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday directed the BJP and its star campaigners to refrain from any campaign methods along “religious or communal” lines and not make any speeches and statements which “may divide the society”. The poll body also asked the Congress leaders not to make statements which give false impression that “the Constitution of India may be abolished” or “potentially divisive statements” regarding the socio-economic composition of the armed forces.
In separate letters to BJP President J.P. Nadda and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, the commission asked them to issue formal notes to the star campaigners to maintain decorum in their utterances. It said that the country’s socio-cultural milieu could not be made a casualty to elections and that the utterances of star campaigners followed patterns and created narratives which could be damaging beyond the model code period.
The EC letter to Mr. Nadda was issued taking note of the BJP President’s response to the April 25 notice to him on a complaint made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Banswara, Rajasthan, which, the Congress had termed “communal”.
The EC had issued a similar notice on model code of conduct (MCC) violations by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Mr. Kharge himself on the same day.
Do not name anybody
However, just like the April 25 notice, Wednesday’s letters also do not name either Mr. Modi or Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Kharge. It might be recalled that in 2019, the EC had given a clean chit to Mr. Modi amid a dissent note by one of the Election Commissioners.
The notices being issued to the respective party presidents, instead of the leaders directly, was also unprecedented.
While the BJP President had responded to the EC letter on May 13 after seeking two extensions, his counterpart submitted his arguments on May 6. They were initially given time till April 28.
In a somewhat harsh observation in Wednesday’s letter to him, the EC noted that Mr. Nadda had made no explicit denial of speeches made by its star campaigners in the response and has also not confirmed if the commission’s directions in the matter had been brought to their notice. It termed Mr. Nadda’s defence as “untenable”.
The poll body listed 12 more complaints made by the Congress against BJP leaders since April 25. “...rather than accounting for EC notice of April 25, in the minimum as a red flag for future conduct, BJP star campaigners in different election meetings are alleged to be continuously making inter alia following statements alleged to be violative of MCC”.
It pointed out the extra responsibility on the party in power in poll time even as it said that no unlimited extra space can be ceded to the Opposition either and rejected Mr. Kharge’s defence too.
“The MCC has a specific prohibition against use of armed forces for campaigning purposes,” it noted, referring to complaints on Congress campaign on the Agnipath scheme, and listed four more complaints made by the BJP against the main Opposition party from April 25 to May 13.
“The commission expects the Indian National Congress to fully align the campaign methods to the practical aspects of the composite and sensitive fabric of India,” it said.
