Amid allegations by Opposition parties that the Government is misusing probe agencies to target its leaders, the Election Commission on Tuesday shared a data saying around 200 complaints have been filed by various political parties and candidates across States.
The Congress is the top in the list of filing complaints to the EC, followed by the BJP for violation of Model Code of Conduct. According to the EC, the BJP has filed 51 complaints, of them, action has been taken in 38 cases while the Congress filed 59 and action taken on 51 cases.
Several political parties from the INDIA Bloc had approached the poll panel seeking its intervention in the alleged misuse of probe agencies by the Government to target their leaders over graft.
Following the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam, the Opposition parties had mounted renewed attack on the Government for its alleged bid to silence their leaders ahead of parliamentary elections.
According to the EC, suo motu removal of officers holding dual charges as Principal Secretaries to Chief Ministers in six States namely Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, as they were holding charge of Home/ General Administration department also. This was to distance election related senior officers with control over, DMs/DEOs/ROs and SPs, from Chief Minister’s offices.
Data showed the other political parties have filed 90 complaints, out of which action has been taken in 80. Notably, a total of 2,68,080 complaints have been filed on c vigil, the commission’s portal on violations for citizens.
Of these, action has been taken in 2,67,762 cases and 92 per cent were resolved in less than 100 minutes. Several political parties from the INDIA Bloc had approached the poll panel, accusing the Government of using probe agencies to target their leaders.
Sharing details of action taken by the poll body, the Commission said suo motu removal of DGP West Bengal as he was barred from election duty in previous elections also.
“Suo motu transfer of non-cadre officers who were posted at leadership positions as District Magistrate (DM) and Superintendent of Police (SP) in four States namely Gujarat, Punjab, Odisha and West Bengal.
Suo motu transfer of officers in Punjab, Haryana and Assam because of their kinship or familial association with the elected political representatives,” it said.
The EC said on complaint from the Congress and the AAP, directive to MeitY to stop transmission of Government of India’s Viksit Bharat Message on WhatsApp post announcement of elections.
“On complaint from DMK, FIR was registered against a BJP Minister Shobha Karandlaje for her unverified allegations on Rameshwar Blast Café,” it said
The EC said it has taken action on a complaint from the Congress and issued directions to the Cabinet Secretary for compliance of its instructions on removing defacement from Government/public premises including hoardings, photos, and messages from DMRC trains and petrol pump, highways, etc.
It further stated that directions were issued to Central Board of Direct Taxes for verification of any mismatch in assets declaration by Union Minister Chandrasekharan in his affidavit.
During the one-month period, 16 delegations from 7 political parties met the commission to lodge their complaints on alleged violations of Model code and related matters. Many delegations met in the States at the level of Chief Electoral Officer.
It also stated that on the complaint of TMC, notice was issued to BJP leader Dilip Ghosh for objectionable and disrespectful remarks towards Mamata Banerjee. Similarly on the complaint of BJP, notice was issued to Supriya Srinate for objectionable remarks towards BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut and Hema Malini respectively. An FIR was lodged against remarks made by Anitha R Radhakrishnan, DMK leader towards Narendra Modi.
The poll body asserted that while it remains committed to protecting level playing field and campaign entitlement of parties and candidates, it has not found it correct to take any step that could overlap or overrun the legal judicial process.
In a statement, the poll body said it was guided by constitutional wisdom when presented with “live situations” involving political persons which have been under active consideration and orders of the courts based on criminal investigations.
“The guidelines plugging gap in law has been issued, on a complaint from AAP against anonymous advertisements in hoardings cum billboards in Delhi Municipal Commission area without giving names of publisher. Giving wider amplitude to the meaning of ‘pamphlet and poster’ in the existing law by including hoardings, guidelines have been issued to Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs mandating the clear identification of printer and publisher on printed election-related material including hoardings, ensuring accountability and transparency in campaign communications,” it said.
