16 delegations from 7 political parties met the Election Commission to lodge their complaints on alleged violations of the Model Code during the first month of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the Election Commission of India (ECI) informed on Tuesday. Many delegations also met the Chief Electoral Officers in the States, it said.
Some of the decisions of ECI for maintaining a level playing field during the past one-month period of Model Code are as follows:
– Approximately 200 complaints have been filed by various political parties and candidates at the level of ECI and across States. Of these, action has been taken in 169 cases.
– The breakup of complaints is: total complaints received from BJP were 51, out of which action has been taken in 38 cases; complaints from INC were 59, with action taken in 51 cases; complaints received from other parties were 90, out of which action has been taken in 80 cases.
– Suo motu removal of officers holding dual charges as Principal Secretaries to Chief Ministers in six states namely Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, as they were holding charge of Home / General Administration department also. This was to distance election related senior officers with control over, DMs/DEOs/ROs and SPs, from Chief Minister’s offices.
– Suo motu removal of DGP West Bengal as he was barred from election duty in previous elections also.
– Suo motu transfer of non-cadre officers who were posted at leadership positions as District Magistrate (DM) and Superintendent of Police (SP) in four states namely Gujarat, Punjab, Odisha and West Bengal.
– Suo motu transfer of officers in Punjab, Haryana and Assam because of their kinship or familial association with the elected political representatives.
– On complaint from INC and AAP, directive to MeitY to stop transmission of Government of India’s Viksit Bharat Message on Whatsapp post announcement of elections.
– On complaint from INC and AAP, directive to all States/UTs for compliance of ECI instructions on removing of defacement from Government/public premises with immediate effect.
– On complaint from DMK, FIR was registered against a BJP Minister Ms. Shobha Karandlaje for her unverified allegations on Rameshwar Blast Café.
– On complaint from INC, directions to cabinet secretary for compliance of ECI instructions on removing of defacement from Government/public premises including hoardings, photos, and messages from DMRC trains and petrol pump, highways, etc.
– On complaint from INC, directions to CBDT for verification of any mismatch in assets declaration by Union Minister Mr Chandrasekharan in his affidavit.
– On complaint from AITMC, notice to BJP leader Mr. Dilip Ghosh for objectionable and disrespectful remarks towards Ms. Mamta Banerjee.
– On complaint from BJP, notice to Supriya Shrinate and Surjewala, both from INC for their derogatory remarks against Kangana Ranaut and Hema Malini respectively.
– FIR was lodged against remarks made by Anitha R Radhakrishnan, DMK leader towards Narendra Modi.
– The guidelines plugging gap in law has been has been issued, on complaint from AAP against anonymous advertisements in hoardings cum billboards in Delhi Municipal Commission area without giving names of publisher. Giving wider amplitude to the meaning of ‘Pamphlet and poster’ in the existing law by including hoardings, guidelines have been issued to Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs mandating the clear identification of printer and publisher on printed election-related material including hoardings, ensuring accountability and transparency in campaign communications.
– On INC complaint, directions have been issued to Municipal authorities in Delhi to remove cut outs of star campaigners from various colleges.
– A total of 2,68,080 complaints have been filed on c vigil, Commission’s portal on violations for citizens. Of these, action has been taken in 2,67,762 cases and 92% were resolved in average less than 100 minutes. Because of the efficacy of cVigil, there is substantial reduction in illegal hoardings, defacement of property, campaigning beyond permissible time, deployment of vehicles beyond permitted ones.
The Commission asserted that all political parties have been treated indifferently and that their grievances were patiently heard. It stated that 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. At the same time, ECI has decided to keep under strict watch some disturbing trends and to keep special track of certain deviant candidates, leaders, and practices more than ever before.
It also informed that the CEC Rajiv Kumar along with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu monitor countrywide pending cases of alleged violations of MCC daily at 12 noon.
Prior to announcement of polls, all DMs/ Collectors/ DEOs and SPs were specifically and directly sensitised by the Commission to enforce the model code without any compromise whatsoever. CEC Rajiv Kumar had personally trained over 800 DMs/DEOs in 10 batches at ECI training institute, IIIDEM at Delhi. The officers in the field have largely acquitted themselves well in this task.
