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From demanding a “clear and complete” ban on Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from campaigning in the upcoming Assembly elections, to seeking action on the Narendra Modi government’s bid to rope in bureaucrats as “district rath prabharis” for a “yatra” to showcase its “achievements” besides involving soldiers on annual leave to promote its schemes, the Congress Wednesday approached the Election Commission (EC) with a raft of complaints.
The Congress’s petition against Shah and Sarma were related to their election speeches. Addressing a rally at Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh earlier this month, Shah had referred to the death of one Bhuneshwar Sahu in communal violence in August in Bemetara district. The BJP has fielded his father Ishwar Sahu as its candidate. Shah had alleged that the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government’s “appeasement and vote-bank politics” led to the lynching of Bhuneshwar and said the “BJP has decided to ensure the culprits are brought to book, and as a symbol of it we have given a ticket to his father (Ishwar)”.
“The statements made by Amit Shah are likely to incite any class or community of persons to commit any offence against another class or community and are thereby punishable under section 505 of the IPC and other provisions of the IPC. The communally charged statements made by Shah…clearly aims to provoke the public to breach peace and even indirectly seeks votes in the name of religion, thereby violating the provisions of the IPC and Representation of People Act,” the Congress alleged in its petition.
Charging that Shah’s statement was in violation of various provisions of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the Congress asked the EC to “impose a clear and complete ban on Amit Shah from all campaign activities till the conclusion of the election and further direct a ban on circulation of the videos of the rally with the offending portions”.
The Congress demanded a similar ban on Sarma over his remarks against Chhattisgarh Congress MLA Mohammad Akbar. In its complaint, the Congress quoted Sarma as having purportedly said at a rally in Kawardha that “If one Akbar comes to some place, he calls 100 Akbars. So, send him off as soon as possible, otherwise the land of Mata Kaushalya will get defiled”.
The Congress delegation – comprising senior leaders Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, AICC in-charge of Telangana Manikrao Thakre, Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy, Lok Sabha MP Uttam Kumar Reddy and Leader of the Opposition in Telangana Assembly Bhatti Vikramarka – that met the EC also demanded its intervention on the government’s plan to deploy officers of the ranks of joint secretary, director and deputy secretary as district “rath prabharis” (special officers) for the “Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra”.
According to an internal order of the Agriculture Secretary, the yatra – to be organised across the country from November 20 to January 25 – would be aimed at “showcasing/celebrating” the achievements of the Modi government. The order said the special officers would be appointed in each of the 765 districts in the country, covering 2.69 lakh gram panchayats.
The Congress also raised an objection to an earlier order of the Defence Ministry directing soldiers on annual leave to spend time on promoting government schemes, making them “soldier-ambassadors”.
“Firstly, this is clearly a political campaign poorly disguised as a government initiative. There is no plausible explanation for the civil servants and Indian Army soldiers to promote only those government schemes which have been introduced since the BJP-led government has come to power,” the party told the EC.
Besides, the Congress said these moves would allegedly violate the MCC and amount to gross misuse of government machinery in service of a ruling party.
The Congress told the EC that the BRS-led Telangana government, led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR, was yet to disburse amounts to the beneficiaries of the Rythu Bandhu Scheme for the second crop of the year, asking the poll panel to direct the government to ensure the disbursement of benefits under various schemes before filing of nominations or after the polling.
“While we are in no way opposed to the transfer of money to the intended beneficiaries, we believe for the sake of upholding the model code of conduct, the ethics of fair elections and to ensure the protection of democratic values that the amount to be disbursed for the second crop be done before the date of filing of nominations for the elections on November 3 or post the polling on November 30,” the party’s memorandum said.
The Congress also brought to the EC’s notice “unlawful” transfer of police officers in Telangana without completing the EC-mandated two-and-a-half years of their tenure and “allotment of election duty to specific officers, who publicly support a specific political party” in the state.
The party also demanded the disqualification of Govind Singh Rajput, BJP candidate from Surkhi in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, for his purported remarks that he would pay Rs 25 lakhs to the “prabharis of booths where the maximum number of votes would be cast for the BJP.” It said his remarks amounted to “offering bribe” and hence was a “corrupt practice” which was a violation of the MCC.
