In the first month since the announcement of Lok Sabha elections on March 16, the Election Commission of India received 200 complaints pertaining to violation of Model Code of Conduct, and disposed of 169. The most complaints were received from Congress at 59 followed by BJP, which filed 51 complaints.
The Commission said on Tuesday that i ttook "swift and salutary action to ensure that the level-playing field is not disturbed and the discourse in campaigns does not plummet to unacceptable levels." It added that in the past month, 16 delegations from seven political parties met it to lodge their complaints. Some delegations also met the Chief Electoral Officers in the states.
'Broadly satisfied with the compliance of the code'
Noting that Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu have been monitoring countrywide pending cases of alleged violations of MCC daily, the Commission said it is "broadly satisfied with the compliance of the code by political parties and that campaign by various parties and candidates has remained largely clutter free."
Providing a break-up of the complaints, it said out of the 51 complaints received by BJP,action was taken on 38 while of the 59 received from Congress, 51 were acted upon. Of the remaining 90 complaints, action was initiated in 80.
'Firm stand in the matter of dignity and honour of women'
The Commission also spelt out how it "decided to keep under strict watch on some disturbing trends and to keep special track of certain deviant candidates, leaders and practices". It added that it has taken a "firm stand in the matter of dignity and honour of women by issuing notices to leaders of parties, who made derogatory and offensive remarks" against them. In this regard, it said a notice was issued to BJP leader Dilip Ghosh for objectionable and disrespectful remarks towards West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee.
Similarly, notice was issued to Congress leaders Supriya Shrinate and Randeep Singh Surjewala for their derogatory remarks against BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut and MP Hema Malini respectively. It also revealed specific instances where action was taken by it on complaints of serious nature by various parties. It said on a complaint from Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, a directive was issued to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to stop transmission of Government of India's Viksit Bharat message on Whatsapp post the announcement of elections.
Directive issued to states/UTS
Similarly, a directive was issued to all States/UTs for compliance of ECI instructions on removing defacement from government and public premises with immediate effect. The panel said on a complaint from DMK, an FIR was registered against BJP minister Shobha Karandlaje for her unverified allegations on Rameshwaram Cafe blast. Likewise, on a complaint from Congress, directions were given to Central Board of Direct Taxes for verification of any mismatch in assets declaration by Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar in his affidavit.
The Commission said besides the MCC complaints, a total of 2,68,080 complaints have also been filed on c-Vigil, its portal on violations for citizens. It added that 2,67,762 complaints were acted upon and 92 per cent were resolved in less than 100 minutes. These complaints helped in substantial reduction in illegal hoardings, defacement of property, campaigning beyond permissible time and deployment of vehicles beyond permitted ones.
