EC goes slow on complaints against Modi, Rahul

The Election Commission (EC) is going slow on complaints filed against Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to stop vitiating the atmosphere in poll time.

Updated on: Nov 28, 2013, 02:29:16 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The Election Commission (EC) is going slow on complaints filed against Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to stop vitiating the atmosphere in poll time.

A verbal battle between Modi and Gandhi has been a key aspect of campaigns for assembly elections in Chhattisgarh (November 11 and 19), Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram (November 25), Rajasthan (December 1), and Delhi (December 4).

The poll watchdog unwillingly became a part of the mudslinging as both parties filed a series of model code of conduct violation complaints against their opponents.

Addressing an election rally in MP’s Indore on October 24, Gandhi had said Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence had attempted to woo the Muslim youth whose kin were killed during the Muzzafarnagar communal riots in Uttar Pradesh this September. He had also accused the BJP of inciting the clashes.

Modi for his part made a reference to the “khooni panja” while addressing a rally in Chhattisgarh and touched a raw nerve. The Congress, whose election symbol is a hand, lodged a complaint with the EC. Read More: EC rejects Modi’s argument on ‘khooni panja’ remark

The EC sought an explanation first from Gandhi and then from Modi — within two days of receiving the complaints — and issued orders asking both to be cautious in their speeches during elections.

Agreeing that the level of political debate had shifted from criticism of opponents’ on policies and programmes as mandated under the model code to frequent personal barbs, the commission has discussed the issue at length.

“We are also concerned at the level of political debate in elections and are of the considered view that the commission platform cannot be used for scoring electoral points,” an EC functionary said.

Several former election commissioners such as SY Quraishi and N Gopalaswami have also expressed their anguish at the falling level of political debate in the current polls.

But with election campaigns going on in full swing, more such complaints were lodged with the EC. On November 18, the Congress filed two complaints against the BJP — one for issuing an objectionable poster of Union minister Kapil Sibal and the other for Modi’s “shehzada” barb at Gandhi. Read More: Modi ignores Cong tough talk on 'shehzada', says 'will stop if dynasty rule ends'

The BJP hit back four days later, filing as many complaints against the Congress, which came down heavily on the political rival.

The EC believes that a swift action on so many complaints could have had an adverse impact on the electoral atmosphere in the poll-bound states. However, officially the complaints are still under examination.

The commission also believes that its advisories to Modi and Gandhi had a positive impact as personal attacks on the opponents from the Congress and the BJP has come down in the last few days.

“The model code is a tool to be used judiciously,” said an official, while explaining the positive impact of its orders on various political parties.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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