Bizarre approach to campaign complaints

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has finally issued a notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for violation of the model code of conduct, but it has done so in a roundabout manner. It has sent the notice to BJP President J P Nadda, and not to Modi. The reason for the circuitous procedure is not known. The commission has issued a similar notice to Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress president, on complaints related to him and party leader Rahul Gandhi. Responses have been sought from both parties by Monday. The notice to Modi was over the Congress party’s complaint that he had misrepresented the party’s manifesto as saying it would attach citizens’ properties and distribute them among Muslims ‘’who have more children.” The complaint against Kharge and Rahul Gandhi was that they made the “false allegation” that Prime Minister Modi had advocated ‘one nation, one language, and one religion.’

It is not known why the ECI did not issue notices to the individuals against whom it had received complaints. This is the first time that it has adopted such a procedure and it has given rise to criticism that it was scared of directly issuing a notice to the prime minister, or at least has been ‘’super cautious’’ about it. The commission has issued such notices to a number of leaders including Congress leader Supriya Srinate and BJP leader Dilip Ghosh. It has said that the individual star campaigners of parties will remain responsible for the speeches they make, and emphasised that speeches made by those holding high positions have more serious consequences. While the responsibility rests with the individual leader, and the punishment, if any, is meted out to that person, why should the party chief be brought into the picture?   

Questions have also been raised about the issuance of similar and simultaneous letters to the top leaders of two leading parties. That may be considered a sign of evenhandedness. But it has also been interpreted as the sign of an unsure and uneven hand, and a deliberate action to balance the notice to Modi with one against Rahul Gandhi. The commission has not acted on any complaints against Modi after 2014. In 2019, it gave a clean chit to him, though the then Commissioner Ashok Lavasa submitted a dissent note and later quit the commission. The complaints against Modi are more serious and numerous than those against Rahul Gandhi, and that is why questions are being asked about the ECI equating them. The point needs to be reiterated: Be you ever so high, the law, specifically the election law, should be above you.