EC Asks Star Campaigners to Hold Parties Accountable for MCC Violations

The commission said that it was “primarily” the responsibility of the leaders to “correct the course” of their statements or utterances in the remaining phases of the ongoing election.

The statement, contained in the second report on the enforcement of the model code of conduct, came against the backdrop of the poll authority issuing show-cause notices to BJP president J.P. Nadda and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on complaints of model code violations by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

It said it had adopted a new course with its advisory to party presidents of all recognised political parties urging them to ask their leaders, candidates, star campaigners not to make speeches or utterances which are in direct or indirect violation of MCC.

“The commission has taken a view that while the individual star campaigner/ leader/ candidate would continue to remain responsible for speeches made, the commission will address party president/head of the political party, on case-to-case basis, as the parties have prime responsibility to rein in their star campaigners from committing such violations. The purpose is to raise the accountability of the political party in compliance of MCC by all their cadres,” the ECI said.

The report said the poll panel had disposed of over 90 per cent of complaints and no major complaint from parties was pending, except some by the Congress and the BJP.

The report said the overall campaign had been largely free of violence, less noisy, less cluttered and intrusive, free of inducement and ostentatiousness.

However, the Trinamul Congress said the ECI had not done enough against "blatant violations" of the poll code by the BJP and its leaders, including Prime Minister Modi. The TMC delegation of its Rajya Sabha MPs Saket Gokhale and Sagarika Ghose submitted a letter to the EC outlining specific instances of alleged violations by the BJP, including “false and malicious” allegations and appeals for votes based on religion, and divisive statements made by Prime Minister Modi in his rallies. They claimed that PM Modi was not being held accountable for the violations of the poll code.

"Under the watch of the Election Commission, the model code of conduct has become the Modi code of conduct. Any statement made by Modi goes unchecked and no action is taken against him. This undermines the fairness of our elections," said Sagarika Ghose. "The brazen and unabashed comments made by Modi are not only a deliberate attack on our secular republic but also against the ethos of free and fair electioneering," the TMC letter stated.