Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 16: The Election Commission of India on Saturday issued notices to the BJP and the Congress national presidents seeking explanations from them on the comments made by their star campaigners Amit Shah and Rahul Gandhi respectively violating the poll code.
The BJP’s JP Nadda and Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge have to submit their responses by 1 am on Monday, two days before voting takes place in Maharashtra and second and final phase Jharkhand on November 20.
The BJP had filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi, claiming that the Congress leader “falsely accused other states of stealing and snatching alleged opportunities from the State of Maharashtra” in a speech in Mumbai on November 6 even as a similar accusation was levelled by the Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday while defending her brother and accusing the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union home minister Amit Shah of spreading lies about Rahul Gandhi that he was against reservation. She said these leaders were scared of Rahul Gandhi because he wanted a caste census to be conducted in the country.
The BJP complaint to the ECI said, “Rahul Gandhi with his statements is inciting the youths of Maharashtra which is immensely dangerous for the unity and integrity of the nation. As only expected and in line with his typical pattern of campaigning and general conduct, Rahul Gandhi’s speech was full of falsehood and lies, intending to create disaffection, enmity and ill-will between the states of Union of India. Rahul Gandhi with his misleading statement has tried to create a divide between the people of Maharashtra and Gujarat & other states,” said the BJP in its complaint on November 11.
The Congress in a counter-complaint alleged that Home Minister Amit Shah delivered a “slew of false, divisive, malicious, and slanderous statements about the Indian National Congress (INC) and its allies” during an election rally in Dhanbad on November 12. “During his speech, Amit Shah alleged that the INC and its allies were; (a) against Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs); (b) promoting terrorism in the country. In what has become a common narrative across the BJP’s campaign in Jharkhand, Amit Shah has also accused the INC of planning to take away reservations from members of the ST, SC and OBC communities and granting them to members of a particular religious minority community,” said the Congress in its complaint on November 13.
“The statements made by Amit Shah have been made with the sole intent of inciting voters on the grounds of religion and caste; in order to consolidate votes and inducing them into voting for the BJP by stoking communal insecurity,” the Congress alleged.
The model code of conduct, a set of guidelines to ensure free and fair elections, mandates that no party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic. It also specifies that criticism of other political parties shall be confined to their policies and programme, past record and work.
Addressing a poll rally in the temple town of Shirdi in Ahilyanagar district of Maharashtra, Ms Priyanka Gandhi said projects worth ₹10 lakh crore were snatched away from Maharashtra. She challenged Mr Modi to announce publicly that a caste census would be conducted and the 50% cap on reservation would be removed.
“But they say from the public platform that my brother is against reservation. The person, who traversed from Manipur to Mumbai carrying out Nyaya Yatra, about him you are saying that he is against reservation. They tell lies from public platforms as they know that the person travelled from Kanyakumari to Kashmir seeking justice and seeking caste census.”
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi found himself under scrutiny as Election Commission officials inspected his bags upon his arrival at Amravati district on Saturday. The inspection, which took place just a day after a similar controversy over his helicopter being grounded in Jharkhand, has prompted Congress to accuse the poll body of unfairness.
Rahul Gandhi arrived in Dhamangaon Railway, one of the eight constituencies in Amravati district, to address a public rally ahead of the November 20 Assembly elections. Shortly after his helicopter landed, election officials approached the Congress leader’s team and searched his luggage as part of the Election Commission’s enforcement of the model code of conduct.
A video circulating on social media captured the moment. Mr Gandhi stood nearby as officials checked his bags. After a few moments, he walked away to engage with his party colleagues. Yashomati Thakur, a Congress MLA and former state minister, expressed outrage over the inspection and asked if the bags of Mr Modi, Mr Amit Shah or Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were also checked by poll officials.
The incident comes on the heels of a similar controversy in Yavatmal, where Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray faced a bag inspection during his campaign. Mr Thackeray accused poll officials of selective enforcement. However, videos later emerged showing similar inspections for BJP leaders, including Amit Shah, Devendra Fadnavis, and Ajit Pawar.
The controversy, coupled with Friday’s grounding of Mr Gandhi’s helicopter in Jharkhand’s Godda, allegedly due to “protocol restrictions.” Congress leaders accused the BJP government of orchestrating the delay to hinder Mr Gandhi’s schedule, which included a rally marking the birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda.
According to Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, Mr Gandhi’s flight, scheduled for 1:15 pm, was delayed by nearly two hours due to the declaration of a no-fly zone for other political leaders. Mr Ramesh called the move a blatant violation of electoral fairness, accusing the BJP of using “petty tactics.”