Election Commission cracks whip on provocative speeches

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday imposed campaign curbs on Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Union minister for women & child development Maneka Gandhi, holding them responsible for making “highly provocative”, “communal” and “derogatory” comments in election speeches. Adityanath and Azam Khan have been barred from campaigning for 72 hours, while Mayawati and Maneka Gandhi face 48-hour bans.

The poll panel “strongly condemned” and reprimanded the leaders in its orders that become effective from 6 am Tuesday. Adityanath and Khan have been handed longer bans due to repeat violations. This is the first time since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls that a sitting CM has been barred from election campaigning.

The EC said the comments of these leaders not only violated the model code of conduct but also “contaminated” the election process and had the “propensity to polarise the elections”.


Invoking Article 324 of the Constitution, the poll panel directed that the four leaders be barred from “holding any public meetings, public processions, public rallies, road shows, all interviews, public utterances in media (electronic, print, social media) etc in connection with ongoing elections starting 16th April 6 am”.

EC’s Strong Remarks for Azam Khan
The panel has informed chief electoral officers of all states about the bans.

The EC took strong exception to the fact that Adityanath committed a second violation within days of being handed a notice for an earlier speech. He had been cautioned against making improper speeches and utterances after he referred to the defence forces as ‘Modi Sena’.

The issue had been raised strongly by the Opposition through a representation on April 5, where Rajya Sabha member and lawyer-politician Abhishek Manu Singhvi sought a ban for a certain length of the campaign period.

The latest EC action against the UP CM has been triggered by his references to ‘hara virus’ and ‘Bajrang Bali’ in recent rallies. He is learnt to have said in his reply to the EC notice earlier that his comments were in response to Mayawati’s communal comments — an argument that has not found merit with the poll panel.

The EC reminded Adityanath that as a chief minister, he has “an added responsibility to not only uphold the basic tenets, including secularism, of the Constitution of India but also display the same in his public appearances/meetings/speeches”.

The commission concluded that Adityanath had made a “highly provocative speech which has the tone and tenor to aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred between different religious communities, and thus violative of aforesaid provisions of model code of conduct”. The poll panel added that he — being a senior leader — should have desisted from making statements that amount to securing votes on “religious lines” and which have the “propensity to polarise the elections”.

Mayawati, on the other hand, has been barred from campaigning for 48 hours for her speech in Deoband, where she exhorted Muslims to vote in a consolidated manner. The EC ruled that her speech was “highly provocative” and has “the tone and tenor to aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred between different religious communities”.

The poll panel reserved its strongest remarks for Azam Khan, terming his comments on BJP candidate Jaya Prada as “indecent”, “derogatory” and “totally uncalled for”.

The EC said Khan’s statements on Jaya Prada violated the model code — which asks political parties and leaders to refrain from making comments on the private lives of candidates — as well as its 2013 advisory against making statements that hurt the honour and dignity of women.

The poll panel recalled how Khan had been barred in 2014 as well for “his misconduct and provocative speech” and observed that he was still using “very objectionable language in election campaigning” and “strongly condemned” and reprimanded him.

Maneka Gandhi, the EC said, had violated the model code by making an “appeal to communal feelings for securing votes”, and was in contravention of Section 123 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, on “corrupt practices” by linking votes to job offers and political interventions.

Addressing a gathering of Muslims in Sultanpur, Gandhi had said that if they did not vote for her, she would be disinclined to entertain their requests later.

The EC is so far learnt to have imposed campaign bans only in three cases since 2014. During the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the poll panel had handed bans to BJP’s Amit Shah and Giriraj Singh, as well as Azam Khan for inflammatory speeches. Shah, now the BJP president, had tendered an apology following which the EC permitted him to resume campaigning.