Modi Repeatedly Flouting Poll Code, Says CPI(M) in Letter to EC

New Delhi: In the few months between the horrific Pulwama attack and the parliamentary elections of 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time and again used the armed forces and the Pulwama martyrs as instruments to invoke the nationalistic tendencies of the common voter.  

Taking note of this, Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora, regarding violation of the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) guidelines by Modi for ‘repeatedly’ invoking the armed forces for electoral benefit.

The ECI had issued clear guidelines on how matters of national security, actions of the Armed Forces, were not to be used as fodder for election speeches by political parties. This had been reiterated by the Commission after the dates for the general elections were announced.

However, Modi, and other leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, have time and again violated these guidelines. The letter addressed to the CEC reads, “We see that the Prime Minister is constantly flouting those guidelines and violating principles which have been laid down as ground rules for all political parties and leaders to follow. We believe that you have taken cognisance of his speeches in Latur where he called for a vote in the name of Pulwama martyrs, although the details of disciplinary action taken against him are still awaited. Moreover, we are yet to hear on when he would be asked to refrain from insulting the Commission’s guidelines, vitiating the electoral process and therefore, our democratic exercise.”

The letter also mentions instances where PM Modi has been seen making provocative statements, as on April 21, which was the last day of election campaign in Patan in Gujarat, where he was reported to have heard saying that if Pakistan had not returned Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman when it did, the day would have been followed by a qatl ki raat (night of slaughter). “It would have been a serious situation so it was good that Pakistan announced to return the Indian pilot else it would have been qatl ki raat,” he said.

On the same day, at another rally in Barmer, Rajasthan, Modi said, “India has stopped the policy of getting scared of Pakistan's threats. Every other day they used to say 'we have nuclear button; we have nuclear button'. What do we have then? Have we kept it for Diwali?”

The letter reads, “The brazen, reckless invocation of armed forces, armed action and then threats of nuclear war, as something that is a partisan political act he would push for and something on the basis for which a vote is sought, in our opinion, even further compromises the integrity of the electoral process as laid out by the Election Commission.”

In the letter, Yechury urged the Chief Election Commissioner to take immediate action of stop this violation of the ECI rules by the Prime Minister. It ends with the statement, “In our considered opinion, the sanctity of the mandate given to the Election Commission by Article 324 of the Indian Constitution can only be upheld if the Election Commission acts with urgency to ensure compliance of all, including Prime Minister Modi, to its own guidelines issued publicly.”