A day after a virtual snub from the Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India seems to have partially woken up to mark just a couple of incidents of severe violations of model code of conduct while a very large number of political leaders are getting away uncaught. Upset over a series of violations of model code of conduct, The Apex Court pulled up the Election Commission of India and told it will examine the powers of the poll body. The EC got into action mode, making the same court appreciate it later and say, “It seems you have got the powers now. EC has woken up now.”
The Election Commission by the Monday evening barred UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours and Mayawati, for 48 hours starting 16 April. Gag orders were also imposed on BJP leader Maneka Gandhi and SP's Azam Khan.
The EC's ban order came hours after the apex court told the commission that it could not drag its feet and had to act promptly against poll code violations. The court gave the poll panel a Day's time to report on the action taken against the two prominent politicians for their controversial speeches. At a recent meeting in Deoband, Mayawati had warned the Muslim community not to “split votes” between the Congress and her alliance. Appealing to caste or communal feelings to secure votes is banned under the model code.
And, Yogi had said at a rally, “If the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have faith in Ali, then we too have faith in Bajrang Bali.” While Ali is revered by Muslims as Prophet Mohammad's successor, Bajrang Bali is another name for Lord Hanuman. Following Opposition allegations that it is soft on leaders of the ruling party violating the election code, the EC took action on the UP CM, too. With its actions reaching Tamilnadu too, where Vellore election was cancelled, DMK leader Kanimozhi's house was raided and AMMK men were prevented from distributing money to voters in Andipatti, all in one day, people look forward to free and fair polling tomorrow.
While these few actions are appreciable, the ECI has miserably failed on the hate and communal statements and speeches made during election campaigns by Navjot Sidhu, Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti those openly attempted to flare up the passion and insecurity among the Muslims.
