Is the Election Commission letting political leaders get away with MCC violations?

In 1994, when senior ministers Sitaram Kesri and Kalpnath Rai of the then Congress government made an announcement about reservations for Muslims and hiking of sugar quotas during the Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka Assembly elections respectively, they faced the wrath of the then Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan. Coming down heavily on them, Seshan asked the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao to dismiss the two leaders from the Congress party. The result: neither Kesri nor any other political leader repeated the same mistake during that election period.

Fast forward to 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission is swamped by hundreds of complaints from political parties and the public in general. Despite issuing notices to political leaders to abstain from making statements that violate the Model Code of Conduct, politicians are doing little to reign in the vitriol.

An example of political leaders treading the MCC violation line is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech where he appealed to the public to dedicate their vote to “the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan”. Among others, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati have also violated the MCC which came into effect on March 10, 2019. While the EC has cracked its whip on a few leaders for making hateful, polarising speeches, strict action on the EC’s part, that would ensure political deterrence, is still awaited.

The most repetitive violation has been of the EC’s advisory to desist from seeking votes using the armed forces. On March 9, the EC issued a general advisory asking all political parties to desist from using the photographs of defence personnel in their election campaigns. On March 19, the EC issued a fresh advisory to all political parties asking them to “desist from indulging in any political propaganda involving the activities of defence forces during their respective election campaigns”.

However, the advisory seems to have made little difference.

On April 1, during a rally in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath referred to the Indian Army as “Modji ki Sena” while attempting to point out the difference between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s approach to terrorism. He said: “Congress ke log atankwadiyon ko biryani khilate the aur Modi ji ke sena atankawadiyon ko goli aur gola deti hai , yahi antar hai (Congress feeds biryani to terrorists while Modiji’s Army gives them bullets and bombs, that’s the difference).” Adityanath’s remarks drew sharp criticism from the Congress and other political parties. Finally, on April 15, the Election Commission barred Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours.

There are several other instances where the MCC has been violated but the EC’s action is awaited. On April 4, 2019, while addressing an election rally in Rampur, another BJP leader, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, referred to the Indian Army as Modi’s army. Naqvi said: “Aur jab Pulwama main yeh hua (terrorist attack), toh Balakot ke andar hamari missailon ne , hamare suraksha balo ne, ghus karke poore ke poore ilaake ko tabah kiya aur un attankwadiyon ko bhi katam kar diya. Ab dikkat yeh hui ki Congress party, Samajwadi party, Bahujan Samaj party sab chillane lage ki bhai yeh jo hai Modiji ghus ghus kar ke, Modiji ki sena ne ghus ghus karke atankwadiyon kp tabah kiya uska saboot toh dikha do (After the Pulwama terrorist attack, our missiles, our security forces, entered Balakot and destroyed the area and the terrorists. But now the problem is that the Congress party, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party are crying out loud and asking for evidence of Modi’s army entering Balakot).”

On April 7, during an election rally at Saharanpur’s Deoband, BSP chief Mayawati asked Muslims to not split their votes. She said, “Muslim samaj ke logon ko ye kehna chahti hoon, ki aap log bhawnao mei behkar rishtedar, yaar, doston ke chakkar mein aakar apne vote ko baatna nahi, yadi aapko iss chunaav main BJP ko haar ka muh Uttar Pradesh main dikhana hai to aap logon ko apne vote baatna nahi hai balki ek tarafa apna vote gathbandhan ke ummeedwaron ko dena, yeh meri khaskar Muslim samaj ke logon se appeal hai (I want to tell the Muslim community that they should not split their votes under the influence of relatives and friends. If you want to see BJP defeated in this election in Uttar Pradesh you should vote together for the SP-BSP alliance candidate, this is my special appeal to the Muslim community).”

Two days later, on April 9, during in an election rally in Meerut, Adityanath referred to the Muslim league as a “green virus”. He said it was time to eliminate this green virus forever. Using the reference of Mayawati’s speech in Saharanpur, he also said, “Agar Congress ko Ali par, Sapa (SP), Baspa (BSP) ko Ali par vishwas hai, humein bhi Bajrangbali par vishwas hai (if Congress, SP, BSP believe in Ali, we believe in Bajrangbali).” The UP CM was using the word “Ali” and “Bajrangbali” in the context of Muslim and Hindu voters.

BJP chief Amit Shah also made controversial statements along communal lines. During an election rally in Nagpur, Shah made a reference to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow in Wayanad. He said it was “difficult to make out from the procession whether he the place he (Gandhi) is contesting from is in India or Pakistan”. In Raiganj, Shah said his government will ensure the implementation of NRC in the whole country. In doing so, they will also remove “every single infiltrator” from the country except “Buddha (Buddhists), Hindus and Sikhs”.

While the EC has found Adityanath and Mayawati in violation of the MCC, there has been no action against Naqvi, Modi or Shah.

Many organisations working towards electoral reforms believe that politicians are repeatedly violating the Model Code of Conduct, as well as advisories issued by the EC, because of lack of stringent action by the EC.

Major General (retd) Anil Verma, head of Delhi-based Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), said: “The lawmakers are total lawbreakers. Despite having the Model Code of Conduct in effect during elections, they keep using inappropriate language and hate speeches which is a total violation of the code. The amount of seizure the EC is doing is horrendous. EC has seized alcohol, drugs, cash, gold etc worth ₹1,500 crores till now. This means that political parties are not bothered about the law or EC.”

As per the 2018 directions of the Supreme Court, Verma said, candidates of every political party are required to publish their criminal records in print or electronic media. “Political parties are required to post the criminal record of their candidates on their websites from the last date of the withdrawal of nomination till two days before the polling.” Checking on seven national parties in Phase 1 of the polls, he found that barring the BJP’s Telangana unit, nobody has published the criminal records of their candidates. “Candidates themselves are not publishing about their criminal records in newspapers or television either despite the Supreme Court directives. This is openly flouting the Supreme Court’s directives and also of the rules set by the EC.”

Newslaundry spoke to Rolly Shivhare, a social activist working towards electoral reforms in Madhya Pradesh, about actions that could be taken by the EC. Shivhare said, “There should be a watch on the IT Cell of political parties. They are involved in circulating various fake information. These IT cells are there in every district and are indulged in spreading wrong information. There is a high need to monitor them. Even State Election Commissions are not resolving these problems at the local level. They are sending social media-related complaints to the Election Commission of India offices in Delhi. The EC is not doing what it is supposed to do.”

Notably, in March, Anand Sharma, head of the BJP IT Cell in Bhopal, published a Facebook post raising questions about the indelible ink used to mark the fingers of voters. Sharma alleged that the ink was mixed with pig’s blood, posting the remark with a question mark. However, by the time a complaint against his post reached the EC, he had taken it down.

Santosh Singh Rathod, a Gujarat-based RTI activist, has sent a complaint to the EC pointing out that out of 20 states where elections occurred in Phase 1, only two states—Nagaland and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands—published the daily expenditure of political candidates on the State Election Commission’s website.

He said, “It’s a rule that daily expenditure of candidates should be published on websites of the respective State Election Commissions. A candidate cannot spend beyond a particular limit and if in case he does, then that person’s candidature can be suspended. This rule was prescribed for transparency but except Nagaland and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, none of the states have put the details of daily expenditure of political candidates. We have reported this  violation to the EC but they are yet to react to it.”

Pankti Jog, executive secretary of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahal, an Ahmedabad-based social organisation, said, “Candidates of political parties like Congress, BJP and others are not displaying their criminal record in newspapers and TV. We have informed about this to the state CEO and asked them to take action against the candidates and their respective parties. We have not received any response from them.”