Seeking votes on caste, religion: SC notice to EC

The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Election Commission on a plea seeking strict actions against the political parties if their spokespersons or leaders delivered speeches and made remarks in media pertaining to the religion and caste.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna issued a notice to the poll panel on a PIL by NRI Harpreet Mansukhani.

The petitioner, represented by senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, sought a direction to constitute a committee under the chairmanship of retired Supreme Court judge to keep a close watch on the entire election process and the Election Commission.

An appeal in the name of religion, race, caste, community or language by the spokespersons and media representatives of the political parties on TV debate shows are normal which affect the elections of the whole country.

The Election Commission has never taken any actions against the political parties, though it is impermissible under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and would constitute a corrupt practice, the petitioner contended.

The petitioner also demanded that strict action must be taken against media houses which used caste and religion in their debate shows.

“A new trend of giving tickets to those who spread communal hatred and do caste or religion based politics has grown very rapidly on media and social media platform. The situation appears to be more alarming when we find such persons being elected for the state Assembly or Parliament,” the petition stated.