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New Delhi: Under fire from the Supreme Court for not acting against errant political leaders using religion and caste to mobilise votes, the Election Commission on Monday barred four political leaders – Bharatiya Janata Party’s UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, BJP Union minister Maneka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan — from campaigning for a specific period of time.
While Adityanath and Khan were barred for three days (72 hours) starting Tuesday morning, Gandhi and Mayawati are not allowed to campaign for two days (48 hours).
Earlier in the day, the court responded to a public interest petition, seeking action against leaders indulging in hate speech and breaching the EC’s Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Coming down hard on the Commission’s plea that it does not have the powers to bar the leaders from contesting, the apex court told the EC it was “duty-bound to take action and cannot sleep over such issues”.
“The Election Commission says ‘we are toothless’. They issue a notice if someone violates model code…or uses religion or caste for votes…then an advisory of they don’t follow notice… We would like to examine the matter, we want a representative of the EC who is conversant with the details to appear,” the Supreme Court bench said.
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In contrast to the EC’s recent inaction, the court’s reprimand readily prompted the Commission into invoking Article 324 of the constitution and to issue orders against the errant leaders.
While the BSP chief was censured for asking Muslims to vote for the SP-BSP-RLD combine and not the Congress in Saharanpur and Bareilly districts, Adityanath was served notice for his “Ali” and “Bajrang Bali” comments during a Badaun rally. Addressing a rally on April 9, Adityanath said, “If Ali is with the BSP-SP-RLD alliance, then Bajrangbali is with the BJP.”
Azam Khan’s sexist rant against Jaya Prada
Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan faced censure following his sexist rant against BJP candidate actor turned politician Jaya Prada, fielded from UP’s Rampur constituency, referred to “khaki underwear”, setting off a storm of outrage.
On Sunday, Azam Khan said at an election rally, in Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s presence: “For 10 years the person sucked the blood of Rampur, I held that person’s finger and brought the person to Rampur. I made her familiar with the streets of Rampur. I didn’t let anyone touch her. No dirty words were used. You made the person your representative for 10 years. It took you 17 years to understand the person’s real face. I realised in 17 days that the underwear beneath is of the khaki colour.”
Jaya Prada won the Rampur seat on a Samajwadi Party ticket in 2004 and 2009. Expelled from the party in 2019, she joined the BJP last month.
Union minister Maneka Gandhi, at a rally in Saharanpur, told a group of Muslims that unless they vote for her she would not work for them.
MCC guidelines
The Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct, at the very outset, makes it clear that any poll speech that invokes hatred and tension between communities would be regarded as a violation of the guidelines governing election campaign.
“ No party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic,” says the MCC’s first rule. The third rule states, “There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. Mosques, Churches, Temples or other places of worship shall not be used as forum for election propaganda.”
In recent weeks, there has been a spate of hate speeches delivered by top BJP leaders. While BJP president Amit Shah, at a rally in Bengal, labelled illegal Bangladeshi immigrants as “termites”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Maharashtra, said Hindus would not forgive Congress for coining the term “Hindu terror”.
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Even as the EC slapped temporary campaign injunctions on four political leaders, two new videos surfaced on Monday. The opposition flagged them to the EC as hate speech. On Sunday BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti referred to a purported Facebook post to use the word “ma……d,” referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, while his Kerala counterpart P.S. Sreedharan Pillai made derogatory references to Muslims.
EC wants Vellore poll cancelled
The EC has recommended to the president that the election in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore be cancelled because money has allegedly been used to influence voters. At the moment, Vellore elections are supposed to be held on April 18, with the rest of Tamil Nadu.
Rahul Gandhi tweets on alliance with AAP
With less than a month to go before Delhi moves into polls, for the first time on Monday, Rahul Gandhi spoke about the AAP-Congress alliance. “Our doors are still open, but the clock is running out,” tweeted the Congress president
“An alliance between the Congress and AAP in Delhi would mean the rout of the BJP. The Congress is willing to give up four Delhi seats to the AAP to ensure this. But, Mr Kejriwal has done yet another U turn,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
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Kejriwal responded by saying that there had been no U-turn and talks were still on, and said Gandhi’s tweet showed that he was interested in the alliance only for show, and not in reality. He also alleged that the opposition was helping Modi in states like UP by dividing the anti-BJP vote.
कौन सा U-टर्न?अभी तो बातचीत चल रही थी
आपका ट्वीट दिखाता है कि गठबंधन आपकी इच्छा नहीं मात्र दिखावा है।मुझे दुःख है आप बयान बाज़ी कर रहे हैं
आज देश को मोदी-शाह के ख़तरे से बचाना अहं है।दुर्भाग्य कि आप UP और अन्य राज्यों में भी मोदी विरोधी वोट बाँट कर मोदी जी की मदद कर रहे हैं https://t.co/9jnYXJFA0S
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 15, 2019
After both sides hardened their stance on the alliance and there was speculation that a no-deal would swing polls to BJP’s advantage in all of Delhi’s seven parliamentary seats, both Congress and AAP seem to be willing to give poll talks another shot.
On Sunday, Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “The country is in danger. To save the country from (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi Ji and Amit Shah Ji’s ‘jodi’, we are ready to do whatever is needed. Our efforts will continue till the end.”
