CPM wants EC to stop PM's 'brazen' remarks on military

CPI(M) on Monday petitioned Election Commission against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "brazen, reckless invocation of armed forces, armed action and threats of nuclear war" during the election campaign was a violation of Model Code of Conduct.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said the sanctity of guidelines laid out by the EC is preserved and the entire election process truly remains a level-playing field for all parties and candidates.

"In our considered opinion, the sanctity of the mandate given to the Election Commission by Article 324 of the Indian Constitution can only be upheld if the Election Commission acts with urgency to ensure compliance of all, including Prime Minister Modi, to its own guidelines issued publicly," he said.

Yechury has referred to Modi's remarks that Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Wardhaman was returned to India by Pakistan after his threat to Islamabad and use of nuclear weapons in his letter.

"By claiming that it is him, and not our armed forces that secured India in the recent air strikes between India and Pakistan, he has gone onto claim that Pakistan sent back Indian Air Force pilot after his threat to Islamabad," Yechury said referring to Modi's speech on April 21 in Gujarat.

"Allowing the Prime Minister, a candidate in Varanasi and the star campaigner for the ruling BJP, to constantly seek to appropriate the valour of the armed forces and seek votes directly violates the Model Code of Conduct and misusing his office of Prime Minister, for electoral reasons," he said.

Reminding that the ED has issued clear guidelines on how matters of national security and actions of the military were not to be used as "fodder for election", he said, Modi is "constantly flouting" these and violating principles which have been laid down as ground rules for all parties and leaders to follow.

Yechury said Modi has been "irresponsible and callous" in going to the extent of calling for use of nuclear weapons. In an election rally in Barmer on Sunday, Yechury quoted Modi as saying, "India has stopped the policy of getting scared of Pakistan's threats. Every other day they used to say 'we have a nuclear button, we have a nuclear button'. What do we have then? Have we kept it for Diwali?”

"The brazen, reckless invocation of armed forces, armed action and then threats of nuclear war, as something that is a partisan political act he would push for and something on the basis for which a vote is sought, in our opinion, even further compromises the integrity of the electoral process as laid out by the Election Commission," he said.

"Allowing the Prime Minister, a candidate in Varanasi and the star campaigner for the ruling BJP, to constantly seek to appropriate the valour of the Armed Forces and seek votes directly violates the Model Code of Conduct and misusing his office of Prime Minister, for electoral reasons," he said.