New Delhi: Over 700 citizens, including former civil servants, academics, activists and journalists, have written to the Election Commission alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national address April 18 violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for elections and sought an inquiry as well as remedial action.
In a complaint dated April 20 addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner, the signatories claimed that the address, broadcast on official platforms such as Doordarshan, Sansad TV and All India Radio, amounted to “electioneering and partisan propaganda” during the MCC period.
The MCC is currently in force in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, where voting was held on April 9, Tamil Nadu (polling on April 23) and West Bengal (polling on April 23 and 29). Votes will be counted for all these assembly elections on May 4.
The complaint said that the use of government-funded media for such messaging gave the ruling party an “undue advantage” and undermined the level playing field essential for free and fair elections.
Citing provisions of the MCC, the complainants said ministers are barred from combining official functions with electioneering and from using official machinery for partisan purposes.
The letter urged the poll panel to take cognisance of the issue, examine the content and manner of the address and initiate appropriate action. It also called for equal airtime on public broadcasters for other political parties if prior permission had been granted for the telecast.
Among the signatories are former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, political economist Parakala Prabhakar, activist Yogendra Yadav, economist Jayati Ghosh, musician-author T M Krishna, former Union secretary E A S Sarma, activist Harsh Mander, journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, academic Zoya Hasan and former ambassador Madhu Bhaduri.
Others include transparency activist Anjali Bhardwaj, former civil servants Ashish Joshi, Amitabha Pande, and Avay Shukla, journalists John Dayal and Vidya Subrahmaniam and CPI leader Annie Raja along with several academics, lawyers and social activists.
The signatories said the Commission should act swiftly to “uphold the sanctity of the electoral process” under its constitutional mandate.
