In separate letters to BJP President J.P. Nadda and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday asked the party heads to direct their star campaigners to maintain decorum in their speeches as they address public meetings during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
While the EC asked the BJP to refrain from any campaign methods along “religious or communal” lines and not make any speeches and statements which “may divide the society”, it asked 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.
The narratives portrayed in the speeches of the star campaigners could be damaging beyond the election period, the EC said.
The EC letter to Mr. Nadda took note 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 — Mr. Modi had referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” and “people with more children”. Congress had called his speech “communal”. It must also be noted that the EC had issued a similar notice on model code of conduct violations by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Mr. Kharge himself on the same day.
The EC also noted that Mr. Nadda had made no explicit denial of speeches made by its star campaigners in the response. It termed his defence as “untenable”. Mr. Nadda had responded to the EC letter on May 13 after seeking two extensions.
The letters sent on Wednesday, however, do not name either Mr. Modi or Mr. Gandhi or Mr. Kharge. The notices being issued to the respective party presidents, instead of the leaders directly, was also unprecedented.
Overall, these measures might give an appearance of impartiality by assuming a false parity, but that is not enough, according to The Hindu editorial.
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