Mumbai: After the former chief election commissioner CEC S.Y. Quraishi questioned the election commission, in his opinion piece published in the Indian Express, for not taking action against those indulging in hate speeches during the recently concluded Delhi election, the commission has accused him of “selective amnesia”.
According to a report published in the Indian Express, deputy election commission Sandeep Saxena has sent a letter to Quraishi claiming that none of the model code violation cases handled by him during his tenure from 2010 to 2012, had resulted in FIRs.
In his opinion piece, Quraishi had written that after a flurry of hate speeches delivered at the time of the Delhi election campaign, he was flooded with queries about the nature of the Election Commission’s (EC) response.
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“I was asked whether the Model Code of Conduct is toothless or the EC is ineffective and whether these offences are also under the purview of other laws of the land. My answer is these offences violate not only the MCC but also the Representation of People Act (1951) and Indian Penal Code, 1860,” he wrote. He further listed out speeches, particularly delivered by BJP’s leaders, who made sinister comments like “Desh ke gaddaron ko…”, and observed that they were violative of several sections under the Indian Penal Code and the Model Code of Conduct.
“Not taking action under the IPC encouraged the worthies like Parvesh Sahib Singh Varma to commit a repeat offence of indulging in a vitriolic diatribe against the Delhi CM for which the EC indicted him a second time within a week. That such small-time leaders repeatedly defy the Commission should be a matter of concern. The answer also lies with the EC,” Quraishi’s opinion piece had observed.
He also mentioned another instance where Minister of State (Finance) Anurag Thakur had repeatedly chanted “Desh ke gaddaron ko” and had people responding with “goli maaro saalon ko”.
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A week after Quraishi’s opinion piece was published, Saxena in his response letter has stated, “Election Commission is planning to publish a compilation of actions taken against violators of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in General Elections of Assembly and Parliament during the last 20 years starting back from 11 February 2020, when the results of General Elections to Assembly of NCT of Delhi were announced. A list of MCC notices issued and action was taken by Commission during the period when you were holding the office of CEC is enclosed.”
“You may kindly like to peruse the same. It would be seen from the enclosed list that no action was taken by the then Commission during this period under section 123 of RP Act/153 IPC. It is rather ironic as to how far selective amnesia can mislead the readers,” Saxena further wrote.