Ordinary voters flagged Modi speech to Election Commission – and came up against a broken system
Two official channels to file complaints do not work. Voters troubled by hate speech and poll code violations emailed the election body, and got no response.
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On April 21, Ankit Shukla came across a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an election rally in Banswara, Rajasthan. In his speech, Modi accused the Congress party of planning to collect gold from Hindu households and distributing it to Muslims, whom he called “infiltrators” and “those with more children”.
As Scroll pointed out, the prime minister’s speech was riddled with lies.
Shukla, a Pune-based software engineer, had never written to the Election Commission of India before. But later that night, he drafted an email to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, imploring him to take the “strictest action” against Modi. “No such person whose mind is filled with the poison of hate and bigotry against Indians should be allowed to continue to participate in the Indian elections,” said his email.
Shukla has not yet received a response to his email.
In this election season, the prime minister has led the charge against the Opposition by repeatedly pitting disadvantaged communities against Muslims. He has falsely claimed that the Congress manifesto promises to scrap reservation for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes and award it to Muslims. The Bharatiya Janata Party handles on social media have been accused of posting videos that “demonise Muslims”.
But the Election Commission’s neutrality in dealing with...
