Poll code violation: SC notice to EC on Congress plea for action against Modi and Amit Shah

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Election Commission (EC) on a Congress plea seeking direction to the poll panel to act on complaints about alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah in their speeches.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph, which issued the notice on Congress MP Sushmita Dev’s petition, also left it to the EC to pass appropriate orders in the matter. “Issue notice. It will be open for the Election Commission of India to pass necessary/ appropriate orders on the representation(s) of the petitioner,” the bench said, fixing the next hearing on May 2.

Dev’s petition was listed as item number 10 before a bench comprising the CJI and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna. As the hearing in the matters preceding it took time, the CJI said, before the lunch break, that some of the remaining cases would be heard by a Special Bench of Justices Gupta and Khanna.

The EC counsel appeared before the Special Bench at 2 pm, and submitted that the poll panel was sitting on Tuesday to consider the representations.

The bench, however, clarified that it was only taking up matters listed for final hearing.

Meanwhile, another bench comprising the CJI and Justices Kaul and Joseph, which sat at 2.15 pm, took up Dev’s petition but found that the EC counsel was not present. It later issued the notice.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Dev, the Congress MP from Silchar. “Since March 10, 2019, ie, the date on which General Elections 2019, were notified, the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi and the BJP President, Mr Amit Shah, specifically in sensitive areas and States, have ex-facie violated the provisions of the RP Act and the Election Rules and the process, thereof,” Dev said in the petition.

The first complaint against the PM on April 5 was regarding a rally in Wardha on April 1 in which Modi, referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s decision to also contest from Wayanad, said the party is “running away from majority-dominated areas” to “take refuge in areas where the majority is in minority”.

The other complaints against the PM relate to his remarks elsewhere: On April 6, in Nanded, Maharashtra, he again referred to the Wayanad seat as one where the “country’s majority is in minority”. On April 9, Modi urged first-time voters to dedicate their vote to the soldiers who carried out the Balakot air strikes and those who lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack. As first reported by The Indian Express on April 14, the Osmanabad district electoral officer, in his report submitted to the Maharashtra chief electoral officer, had found that this remark was “inconsistent” with EC’s instructions prohibiting the use of armed forces for political gains.

On April 21, speaking in Patan in Gujarat, Modi, while referring to himself in third person, said he had 12 missiles ready and that had Pakistan not announced the return of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman then it would have had to face “qatl ki raat”. On the same day, addressing a rally in Barmer in Rajasthan, he had warned Pakistan, saying that India’s nuclear arsenal is not meant for Diwali. “Every other day they used to say ‘we have nuclear button, we have nuclear button’. What do we have then? Have we kept it for Diwali?” he said.

“It is in public domain that they have indulged in hate speeches, repeatedly used the armed forces for political propaganda, despite a clear prohibition on the same by the Respondent/ECI,” Dev said in the petition, adding, “furthermore, the Prime Minister, in blatant violation of the MCC, held a rally on the day of polling in Gujarat on April 23rd, 2019, ie, date of voting for the third phase of the election”.

Her petition said the Congress had moved several representations to the poll panel since the proclamation of the MCC regarding the violation of electoral laws including the Model Code.

The Commission, she said, had acted against other candidates who were found to be breaching electoral laws including the Model Code. “However, the Respondents are guarded and oblivious to the comprehensive representations/complaints (duly supported by the cogent evidence) that have been filed by the petitioner’s party against the Prime Minister and Mr Amit Shah,” she said.

Dev said “the lack of decision despite cogent evidence, representations and exhortations to the Respondent/ ECI demonstrates abdication and indecision and a complete absence of justice in ensuring a level playing field”. She said the “inaction” by the poll panel “is a tacit endorsement of the statements and clean chit to the individuals whose statements and actions are ex facie in violation of the provisions of the RP (Representation of the People) Act and the Election Rules 1961 including the MCC”.