More than 700 citizens, including former civil servants, academics, activists and journalists, have written to the Election Commission alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national address on April 18 violates the Model Code of Conduct for Elections and sought an investigation as well as remedial action.
In a complaint dated April 20 addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner, the signatories claimed that the speech, which was broadcast on official platforms like Doordarshan, Sansad TV and All India Radio, amounted to “election and party propaganda” during the MCC period.
The MCC is currently in effect in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, where voting took place on April 9, Tamil Nadu (polling on April 23) and West Bengal (polling on April 23 and 29). Votes for all assembly elections will be counted on May 4.
The complaint said government-funded media’s use of such messages gave the ruling party an “undue advantage” and undermined the level playing field necessary for free and fair elections.
Citing provisions of the MCA, the complainants said ministers are prohibited from combining official duties with electioneering and from using official machinery for partisan purposes.
The letter urged the poll committee to pay attention to the problem, examine the content and method of the speech and initiate appropriate action. He also called for equal airtime on public broadcasters for other political parties if prior permission for television broadcasts is granted.
The signatories include former Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung, political economist Parakala Prabhakar, activist Yogendra Yadav, economist Jayati Ghosh, music composer T M Krishna, former union secretary EAS Sarma, activist Harsh Mander, journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, academic Zoya Hassan and former ambassador Madhu Bhaduri.
Others include transparency activist Anjali Bhardwaj, former government employees Ashish Joshi, Amitabha Pandey and Avai Shukla, journalists John Dayal and Vidya Subramaniam and Chinese Communist Party leader Ani Raja along with several academics, lawyers and social activists.
The signatories said that the committee must move quickly to “preserve the sanctity of the electoral process” in accordance with its constitutional mandate.
