New Delhi: With just three phases of voting remaining in Lok Sabha elections till May 19, the Supreme Court on Thursday set May 6 as the deadline for the Election Commission (EC) to decide about six pending complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah in connection with hate speeches and invoking armed forces while canvassing for votes.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued the direction for speeding up probes into complaints of model code of conduct violations after the Congress alleged delay by the EC.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for petitioner and Congress Lok Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, said that they have given 11 representations to the EC against Mr Modi and Mr Shah but it has taken 40 days to decide just two of them.
Late on Thursday, the EC gave a clean chit to Mr Modi in another complaint, the third so far, related to his speech in Rajasthan’s border town of Barmer where he invoked the armed forces and said that India’s nuclear button is not kept to for use in Diwali.
After Mr Singhvi’s submission, the bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, said, “The remaining representations of the petitioners shall be decided by the EC before we hear the matter again on Monday (May 6).”
Earlier, counsel for EC Rakesh Diwedi said that out of 11 complaints the poll panel had decided four and the remaining would be decided by May 8.
The poll panel has so far given a clean chit to Mr Modi over his speeches — including the one in Latur on April 9 — urging first-time voters to dedicate their votes to Balakot air strike heroes and soldiers killed in the Pulwama attack.
The EC has also not found anything objectionable in the Prime Minister’s speech in Wardha on April 1 in which he indirectly slammed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from Wayanad — a constituency in Kerala that has more voters from the minority community.
Alleging EC “inaction” on complaints against top BJP leaders, Ms Dev said that the delay in poll panel’s decision was “a sign of invidious discrimination” as also “arbitrary, capricious and impermissible” as it was destructive of the integrity of electoral process.
“It is in public domain that they have indulged in hate speeches, repeatedly used the armed forces for political propaganda, despite a clear prohibition on the same by the EC,” she said.
The petitioner had said that the Congress has led verifiable evidence on the violation of model code of conduct (MCC) by Mr Modi and Mr Shah for delivering hate speeches and invoking armed forces in their campaigning despite a clear ban by the EC.
“The lack of decision despite cogent evidences and representations to the EC demonstrates abdication and indecision and a complete absence of justice, in ensuring a level playing field in ensuing Lok Sabha polls,” said Ms Dev.
The petition also referred to the EC’s circulars prohibiting parties and candidates from using pictures of armed forces for their political propaganda and using religions.
“The purpose of all these rules and regulations is to ensure a level playing field for all candidates regardless of position, influence or ideology and also to ensure that the sanctity and integrity of the electoral process is not undermined by unscrupulous individuals,” it said.
In a related development, the EC on Thursday gave a clean chit to Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his election speech on April 23 in Madhya Pradesh’s Sihora district where he called his BJP counterpart Amit Shah a “murder-accused”.
An EC official said that the “complaint was examined in detail and after examination of the complete transcript of speech sent by the district electoral officer of Jabalpur, the commission is of the considered view that no violation of the model code of conduct is made out”.
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