KOCHI: Supreme Court lawyer Kaleeswaram Raj has sent a legal notice to the Chief Election Commissioner seeking action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his controversial remarks during the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaigns.
In the notice, Kaleeswaram Raj sought “immediate action against the prime minister, who has been consistently engaging in hate speech and divisive rhetoric in his election campaign.”
“Many of his utterances are clearly in breach of the relevant provisions governing the issue,” the notice said.
“As of now, I have sent the notice and am awaiting the response from the Election Commission. In the absence of any concrete and immediate action on the issue, I shall consider placing the issue before the Supreme Court by appropriate methods. How far the prime minister can stick to the constitutional tenets and law of the land is a crucial issue. How far is the Commission, as a referee institution, able to deal with the matter is also equally crucial,” Kaleeswaram Raj told TNIE. The legal notice pointed out that Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act conceives any act of ‘promoting enmity between classes in connection with election’ as an electoral offence.
The model code of conduct also says ‘no party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes, communities, religious or linguistic’, it stated.
The notice also cited Modi’s remarks on the ‘distribution of wealth’ during a public speech in Rajasthan. On another occasion, Modi had said the Congress party’s election manifesto is the language of the Muslim League. Yet another public statement made by Modi was that the Congress had grabbed the quota meant for the backward sections and assigned them to Muslims by backdoor means, the notice said.
It alleged that the comments were based on religious fanaticism. “They are divisive, inflammatory, and disparaging. There is no reason or justification for sparing the prime minister who violated the code of conduct and the laws,” said the notice.
“It is deeply disturbing to note that the PM has perpetuated hate speech in his election campaign with a sense of impunity which goes against the intent and content of provisions,” stated the notice.
Kaleeswaram Raj told TNIE that the very appointment of the EC based on the 2023 parliamentary enactment is a matter now agitated before the Supreme Court. “The basic contention is that it breaches the Constitution Bench judgment in Anoop Baranwal’s (2023) case that insisted on an independent poll panel and a neutral body to select it. The Act came just after the judgment. This is, therefore, a test case,” he said.
“How far the EC has acted as a fair umpire regarding the PM’s comments could be a matter for consideration in the ongoing case challenging the Act and the appointment of the EC. An intervention to that effect will be considered, as indicated in the notice,” he added.
Remarks based on ‘religious fanaticism’
The legal notice pointed out that Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act conceives any act of ‘promoting enmity between classes in connection with election’ as an electoral offence. The model code of conduct also says ‘no party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes, religious or linguistic communities’, it stated.