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| Vicious campaign - temporarily restriction not enough | | | Jamwal Mahadeep Singh | 5/7/2019 11:15:41 PM |
| As the country's biggest election is in progress and political parties knocking the doors of the voters, the Election Commission, which is the election watchdog of the country, is having a tough time to keep an eye on all the incidents that are violating the Model Code of Conduct. The compliance deficit being witnessed in the 2019 elections reflects the political parties' disregard towards the MCC, as well as the inability of the ECI to retain its constitutional advantage through constant vigilance and stern action. Soon after the model code of conduct came into force on March 10, the ruling party as well as opposition several times has provoked the watchdog to slam them with the violation of MCC. With reference to the subject cited above, and in view of the ECI putting bars on candidates contesting elections, a clear message trickles that contesting candidates have no respect to the ECI and violation of MCC (I feel it is a moral code for voluntary adherence) matters nothing to these candidates. The matter becomes more serious, when the party candidates defy the MCC and indulge in violations of serious nature that promote communal harmony and their party boss shield them for their shameful acts. Candidates both from BJP and Congress as well as from other political parties have been slapped notices by the ECI as well as by the Courts. It becomes more serious when campaigners occupying Chief Ministerial chairs, sitting Ministers in central government, aspirants for PM chair and very senior leaders indulge in violations of MCC. On April 15, 2019, the EC has put a 72-hour prohibition for campaigning on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a 48-hour ban on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi restrained for 48 hours, and a 72-hour restriction has been imposed on Azam Khan, Samajwadi Party. The orders, in which the Election Commission censured the four politicians, also prevent them from giving interviews or making any comment on the electronic, print or social media in connection with the upcoming Lok Sabha election. All these violators have been banned for their MCC violative activity in UP. The Uttara Pradesh, a hot bedded state in view of its number of Lok Sabha seats and at present BJP holding 71 seats of the 80 is at the national scene. The vicious campaign in this state is because of the reasons of BSP-SP combine that is being looked as denting the BJP with a big hammer. The parachuted CM of UP, and losing by election in Gorakhpur has frustrated him to the extent that he has surpassed all norms of the constitutional oath taken by him and he is hell bent to prove his mantle in Lok Sabha elections. We find that earlier Mr. Yogi was cautioned by ECI to remain careful after his "Modi ji ki sena" (Modi's Army) remark when speaking about the armed forces and had said that if the Congress, the SP and the BSP had faith in "Ali," then we also have faith in "Bajrangbali" (creating religious divide). He also made a reference to "haraa virus" (green virus - a color attributed to Muslim community). More astonishing facts were that the party President and PM remained silent spectator. The ECI restrained him from campaigning for 72 hours. When a CM is expected to keep strict vigil over violations of any MCC, he himself is indulging in great violations forcing the ECI to put ban on his campaigning, is a matter of shame both for the party and himself. Ms. Mayawati banned for appealing to Muslims to vote for the BSP-Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance (Communal divide). The Maneka Gandhi, a minister in Modi cabinet, has been banned after found violating of the provisions of the model code as laid down in Para 3 and 4 of Part-1 of the 'General Conduct' section, pertaining to bribing or intimidation of voters (appealing the Muslims that they should vote for her as they would need her help in the future) and violation of Section 123 (corrupt practices) of the Representation of the People Act, as such reprimanded by ECI for the conduct. Mr. Azam Khan used indecent, derogatory and uncalled language against her opponent contesting candidate of BJP.
Recent in the tie up is Pragya Thakur, a controversial candidate of BJP from Bhopal, attracting 72-hour bar on the campaigning for her comments against late IPS officer Hemant Karkare and on her role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The slammed candidate by ECI has said that the IPS officer was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks because she had cursed him and she talked about her role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The Election Commission "strongly condemned" the statements made by the BJP candidate and cautioned her against such misconduct in future. On the other, Congress president also served with a show cause notice for saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a new law that amounted to shooting down the tribal.
Earlier we have witnessed how Indian army including photographs of martyrs was used for political gain by the BJP soon after 'Pulwama attack' and much claimed 'surgical strike' (ABP News had reported in March 2019 that the BJP had put up posters which included images of Indian Air Force jets, in Prayagraj city of Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has also used Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman's image in its posters in other places. Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Manoj Tiwari (Bhojpuri singer) was seen reciting a poem about Varthaman during the launch of BJP's Vijay Sankalp bike rally in New Delhi. Tiwari was dressed in Army fatigues). This prompted the former navy chief (Retired) Admiral L Ramdas to write the Election Commission to prevent the use of the Indian Armed Forces by political parties to influence the electorate during the campaign for the General Elections. This compelling 'The Election Commission of India' to instruct all political parties to keep the country's defence personnel out of election campaigning and not to use their photographs in advertisements. Amidst allegations of misuse of official machinery by the ruling party, Nehru reminded all political parties to adopt the right means, in order to ensure fairness in electoral outcome, but in the present run up, the PM is off and on leveled as himself violator of the MCC so how he can issue such an advisory. In reference to fair elections, the importance of bureaucratic neutrality to ensure that the party in power was not placed at an advantage, also under attack for their biased role. The diminution of the ECI is worrying many visionaries, especially since over the years it had evolved as a protection against self-destructive tendencies within democracies. The unfettered use of divisive tropes, the unprecedented invocation of the armed forces to garner votes, the rampant use of technology to circumvent and bypass election rules to give a free run to propaganda machines on television, and failure to curb excessive expenditure by political parties, have distorted electoral competition.
Concluding the importance of MCC lay in providing the unconstrained space for prior discussion, so that the vote - when it was finally cast - had the quality of intelligent consent. The press, the bureaucracy, and the judiciary have to be free, and independent of the party in power to ensure free and fair elections. For the past sometime, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been brought under increasing scrutiny for its diffidence and deference to the ruling regime. The ECI must guard against ceding the space which it has extracted and affirmed by innovatively enhancing the residuary powers given to it in Article 324 of the Constitution of India. Elections have become the site of unprecedented display of money, muscle and technology as power. Its concentration in any party gives it extraordinary and unfair advantage in electoral competition. We have witnessed in the past, successive ECIs have elicited compliance by public censure and invoking sections of the IPC and the Representation of the Peoples Act and hopes are pinned on present ECI to invoke similar provisions against violators of MCC rather than just prohibiting them from campaign for few hours only. This is also necessary to strengthen its image that is lip murmured as ever weak and pro-BJP ECI, India ever had. |
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