Bharatiya Janata Party leader JP Nearly a month after serving notices to Nadda and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge for violating their party’s star campaigners’ code of conduct, the Election Commission of India on Wednesday directed BJP’s star campaigners to refrain from making communal speeches and to refrain from insinuating that the Congress party could do away with the constitution.
The Election Commission flouted norms when it issued notices to BJP and Congress leaders on April 25 regarding the opposition’s complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP’s complaints against Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. Although the Election Commission did not name Prime Minister Modi or Rahul Gandhi, it asked JP Natta and Mallikarjun Kharge for their “opinions” on alleged violations of election conduct by “star campaigners”.
As for the prime minister, a complaint has been filed over his speech in Rajasthan’s Banswara, where he accused the Congress party of appeasing Muslims and said the Congress party would hand over wealth to those who had too many children and “infiltrators”. The BJP had complained about Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that he wanted Prime Minister Modi to have “one language” in the country.
In its order to both the party leaders, the Election Commission said that their replies to the notices were not acceptable. Both defended their star campaigners. The Election Commission cited complaints against both parties for violations of the code of conduct received after the April 25 notices, saying star campaigners have not stopped issuing such statements.
In the case of JP Natta, “the Election Commission directed him as the party president to inform all star campaigners not to make speeches and statements that could divide the society.” The Election Commission also directed the BJP and its star campaigners to “abstain from any propaganda methods/religious/communal discourses”.
It asked Mallikarjun Kharge not to issue misleading statements such as “Constitution of India may be abolished or sold” and to abide by its 2019 advisory on not mentioning security forces during campaigning. The EC asked the Congress “not to make divisive statements about the socio-economic makeup of the security forces”.
The BJP complained to the Election Commission that Rahul Gandhi had said that the Modi government would abolish the Constitution if it came back to power and that the government had created two types of soldiers, referring to the Agniveer scheme.
