The Election Commission ( EC) on Friday will decide whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on India successfully testing an anti-satellite missile is a violation of the model code of conduct.
Addressing the media on Thursday, Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said the decision will be announced on Friday. “The poll panel is examining three aspects of the matter -- MCC, law and media. The committee had written to Doordarshan and All India Radio seeking details of the source of the video feed”, Saxena said.
“The committee of officers set up yesterday (Wednesday) to examine the issue has had two meetings -- one yesterday and one today. ( Thursday).. We are going into the entirety of the matter essentially to see if there was a violation of the MCC. It is being inquired. We are quite hopeful that we should be able to complete it very soon. We are trying by tomorrow we should be able to complete our inquiry,” he said. He added Doordarshan and All India Radio have submitted their replies and the panel is examining them. To a question, the poll officer said that the Prime Minister had neither sought permission, nor informed the Election Commission about his address.
The EC directed the team to ensure official machinery and the government office were not misused to the advantage of the ruling party and also sought a report in this regard. Although the EC’s permission wasn’t sought before the address was aired.
On Wednesday, EC officials had stated that what is already under examination by them are the precedents of such a national address by the Prime Minister shortly before the Lok Sabha polls and whether “national security” could be invoked by the ruling NDA for the urgency of the address.