In the run-up to Assembly elections in four States and a Union Territory, the Election Commission (EC) has asked the Centre to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture from coronavirus vaccination certificates being offered to beneficiaries in these States.
The EC directive came after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress registered a complaint saying that it violates the Model Code of Conduct.
In its letter to the Health Ministry, the EC referred to certain provisions of the Model Code related to the use of advertisement at the cost of the public exchequer. The direction to the Ministry does not mention Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name but says the Ministry has to follow the Model Code of Conduct in letter and spirit. The Government may have used filters to hide the PM’s picture from the certificate, which could take some time for the Ministry to fully implement these directions on the certificates given to those who take the Covid-19 vaccine in poll-bound West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry.
The poll body had first asked the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal for a report on why Modi’s photo was being used on vaccination certificates generated through the Co-WIN platform. The CEO responded by informing the poll panel that the vaccination drive was a Central scheme. The panel then took up the matter with the Health Ministry and sought its response on the “factual position” on the use of the photographs. In its reply, the Ministry said the vaccination drive was an ongoing Government initiative that had started much before the Model Code of Conduct came into force.
The Mamata Banerjee-led party had approached the poll panel this week, citing violation of the model code as PM Modi’s image reflected on vaccination certificates generated through the Co-Win platform.
The clause 7 of the ECI Model Code of Conduct says that the “issue of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer... regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided”.
On March 5, the EC had directed all petrol pump dealers and other agencies to remove hoardings advertising the Centre’s schemes that have Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photographs on the premises of the facilities within 72 hours.