AITC MP sends letter to ECI alleging violation of MCC by Modi
On Monday, senior All India Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien lodged a lodged a complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Election Commission of India (ECI) for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
In the letter of complaint, he wrote that the prime minister purportedly penned a letter, addressed to ‘My dear family member’, which was mass-circulated through WhatsApp to citizens across the country.
This letter emphasised on the various programmes and schemes initiated by the BJP-led Union government over the past decade.
The letter was accompanied by a message, which read: “This letter has been sent by the Government of India under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji. In the last 10 years, more than 140 crore citizens of India have directly benefited from different schemes of the Government of India and will continue to benefit in the future,” wrote O’Brien.
But, he said, Modi is “also a contesting candidate set up by the BJP from the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency”, and therefore, a candidate contesting in the Lok Sabha elections “is using the Central Government’s revenues to reach out to the electorate to discuss BJP’s programmes/schemes”.
This is a blatant violation of the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct, which came into effect with the declaration of the election schedule by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday, March 16, 2024, since the letter, though dated March 15, was released the next day.
“By using the office of the Prime Minister, the BJP has issued the aforesaid letter at the cost of the public exchequer under the guise of a message seemingly sent by the Government of India,” wrote O’Brien.
Therefore, he urged the ECI to direct the BJP and Narendra Modi to refrain from campaigning in the future “at the cost of the public exchequer”, book the expenditure related to the letter in question “into the accounts of the BJP” and issue directions to withdraw the letter.
In the letter, he also reminded the ECI of the relevant rule of the MCC in this regard: Chapter 6 of the Manual of Model Code of Conduct, titled ‘Publication of Advertisements at the Cost of Public Exchequer’ lays down that all “government advertising shall maintain political neutrality and avoid glorification of political personalities and projecting a positive impression of the party in power or a negative impression of parties critical of the government”.
