Based on the submission of the petitioners, the EC brought a list of notices issued to the individuals who have violated the Model Code this year for the ongoing general elections.
Scoffing at the Election Commission for saying it was "powerless" to act sternly against politicians and others who violate the Model Code of Conduct, the Supreme Court on Monday showed it the mirror, reminding the panel of its powers. It even summoned a senior Election Commission official to explain how it was "powerless" to guard the sanctity of the Model Code for elections. The matter will be heard on Tuesday.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Harpreet Mansukhani seeking an order from it that the Election Commission must ensure no political leader is allowed to seek votes on the grounds of caste, race and religion, which is an offence under Sections 123 and 125 of the Representation of the People Act.
Based on the submission of the petitioners, the EC brought a list of notices issued to the individuals who have violated the Model Code this year for the ongoing general elections.
Three instances were shown where twice Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and once Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati used religion in their political speeches as a way to garner votes, thus vitiating communal harmony and violating the Model Code, the petition noted.
The court asked Election Commission's lawyer Amit Sharma, what was being done against the two politicians in question. Sharma said that the Commission had issued notices to the two. While one case against the UP Chief Minister was closed after the EC issued an advisory, Adityanath was yet to respond to the other case. Mayawati had also not responded to EC's notice.
Not happy with the state of affairs, the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna said, "Is it not defiance of EC's power? And what are you doing about it? Are you aware of your power or will you wait for the court to act in such cases?"
In the case of Mayawati, the bench noted that the notice was sent to her on April 11 seeking her response by April 12. "Today is April 15, what have you done about it? We will get the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) here if we do not get a favourable response," the bench said.
Sharma told the court that the commission's powers were limited. "We issue notice and after being satisfied, we issue advisory. On repeated violations, we can direct lodging of a criminal case but we do not have power to disqualify any candidate," he said.
The bench asked, "For violating Model Code, all you can do is to issue advisory? You say you are powerless, that at best what you can do is to direct registration of a case. We would like to examine this matter that EC has no power to treat violations of Model Code."
The court directed a representative of the Election Commission to be present in the court at 10.30 am to reply to this aspect.
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