The Election Commission of India on Tuesday said it has disposed off 400 of the 425 major complaints it received from candidates and political parties on violations of the model code of conduct (MCC) in the last two months. The Commission, however, said a few complaints from the BJP and the Congress are still under process, hinting at pending matters such as some involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, respectively.
The EC’s second suo moto report on two months’ enforcement of MCC during the ongoing polls comes days after Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was part of the INDIA bloc delegation that petitioned the Commission on poll related issues, saying the EC is yet to take action on their complaints against Modi. The poll body is being widely criticised by the Opposition parties for not acting on hate speeches and on its perceived “bias” in favour of the ruling party.
“Approximately 425 major complaints, excluding canvassing related or clarificatory complaints have been filed by various political parties... Of these, action has been taken (or matter disposed) in 400 cases. Approximately 170, 95 and 160 complaints were filed by the INC, BJP and others, respectively. Most of these complaints have been acted upon,” the EC said.
In April, the EC had issued notices to presidents of the BJP and Congress over PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi’s MCC violation. Addressing a rally at Banswara, Modi had charged that if Congress comes to power, it would redistribute wealth among the Muslims, who are “infiltrators” and “those who produce more children”.
“A few complaints of INC and BJP against each other are pending alleging violation of MCC inter alia broadly in the genre of divisive statements by top Star campaigners on communal, caste, regional language divide, or on sanctity of Constitution of India,” the Commission acknowledged.
Sharing a sample of complaints disposed off, the Commission informed that on Congress complaint of capturing of a polling booth and tampering of EVM in Dahod Parliamentary Constituency of Gujarat, re-poll was ordered and entire polling and police parties were placed under suspension, and concerned state authorities have been directed to initiate departmental proceedings against them.
On TDP complaint, the Commission censured President, YSRCP, for violation of provisions of MCC and Commission’s advisories relating to unverified allegations. Similarly, it pointed out that on complaint of Congress, a post from ‘BJP4Karnataka’ Twitter ‘X’ account was taken down on being found violative of MCC. A FIR was also registered in the matter.
Through its press release, the Commission informed that a total of 4,22,432 complaints have been filed on C-Vigil App as of May 14, this year. Of these, action has been taken in 4,22,079 (99.9%) cases, and of these, 88.7% of complaints were resolved in an average time of less than 100 minutes.