M A Baby
Credit: Facebook/M A Baby
New Delhi: CPI(M) on Saturday warned the Election Commission about the possibilities of the ruling BJP “exploiting” ‘Operation Sindoor’ for electoral gains and insisted that the poll body should implement the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) impartially in future elections.
The party’s assertion came during an interaction with its General Secretary MA Baby and senior leaders Nilotpal Basu and Muralidharan had with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanendra Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi at the invitation of the EC.
At the meeting, the leaders also submitted a 11-page note to the EC outlining their views on various issues, which included their demand for partial proportional representation and state funding for campaigns. They also opposed any plan to force parties to spell out financial plans for poll promises.
The Left leaders wanted the EC to impartially impose MCC while claiming that the poll body was “seen faltering” on the question of its “inability of restraining or punishing” parties and leaders who were making appeals based on religion and caste.
“What starkly stood out was the initial refusal of the Commission to even take cognisance of the multiple complaints lodged against Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi for his blatantly communal campaign despite its own advisory about plummeting levels of public discourse,” they said.
There were “several instances of the misuse of office” by the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and others during the course of elections and “surely one will witness the spectacle of the exploitation of ‘Operation Sindoor’ for electoral gains by the ruling party”.
The CPI(M)’s claims came hours after the BJP posted videos and posts on its social media handles, accusing the previous UPA government of not taking action against Pakistan while hailing Modi.
The Left leaders also found fault with the practice of advertising criminal antecedents of candidates by parties on the instructions of the Supreme Court, saying it was not giving intended benefits and urged the EC to file a review petition on this.
They also demanded the reworking of the placing of three units of Electronic Voting Machines, ensuring the voters’ choice exercised in ballot goes first into the Control Unit where it is recorded and then routed to the VVPAT.
At present, after the vote is cast in the Ballot Unit, it goes to VVPAT and then to the Control Unit, prompting a section to claim that a voter would not actually know whether his choice is changed.
Demanding partial proportional representation, they cited examples, including the 2014 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls, to claim that parties with substantial votes failed to win seats. They found merit in a Law Commission recommendation and demanded that in Lok Sabha and Assemblies, an additional 25% seats should be filled by proportional representation.
“In Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 elections, the BSP got 9.39 per cent votes but did not win a single seat, while the Congress with 9.46 per cent won six seats. In Odisha, BJP with 45.34% won 20 seats while BJD with 37.53 per cent did not win a single seat… In Andhra Pradesh, the YSRCP polling 39.61 per cent could win only four seats while the TDP polling at 37.79 per cent won four times more seats (16),” they said.
In a note submitted to the EC, they also opposed the Supreme Court observation that parties must specify sources from which budgetary expenses could meet for their poll promises, saying it may seem to underscore importance of transparency and accountability but it in fact strikes against the right of parties to freely express their policies and promises to people.
While demanding for state funding of campaigns, they demanded putting a ceiling on expenditure by parties, as absence of such a ceiling is making the ceiling on candidate’s expenditure meaningless. They also said the election expenditure starts much before the announcement of election and it should be factored in.
“Under the pretext of threat perception and security certain high ranking VIPs are permitted the use of state owned aircraft and other modes of transportation, free of cost. This gives them an undue advantage over their opponents,” they said.