– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Bengaluru, May 14: “Grow a spine, or resign” was the mantra chanted outside the Chief Electoral Office of the state here, as a mark of protest, amidst the Lok Sabha elections.
“This collective of organisations and concerned citizens also undertook a postcard campaign in which hundreds of postcards were sent to ECI, Delhi, from various cities containing the image of a spine – thereby demanding the Election Commission to ‘grow a spine or resign’,” the participants said in a statement.
The letter to the ECI, in addition to the complaints filed with the Electoral officers in other cities, pointed out that the voter data revealed in percentages, instead of absolute numbers, was a concern. In the 2019 elections, the data contained numbers of the actual total electors, total voters along with the percentage turnout in 2014 and compared it with 2019 per constituency. Release of voter count in percentages leads to suspicion of manipulation. The letter demands voter count be released in absolute numbers.
The postcard campaign also demanded the Election Commission to act by its code without any bias. It was alleged that the ECI hadn’t taken any action on the alleged hate speech made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The PM has made several speeches which pit communities against one another and promote hatred among them on religious lines. This accounts for a violation of the MCC as well as the People’s Representation Act, 1951.
The selective action of the ECI against opposition parties and sparing the ruling party was condemned by the activists. Activists demanded that the Prime Minister be banned for 96 hours for his alleged hate speech. The lack of swift actions over the videos posted by the BJP on social media was lambasted. Failure to take action against surrogate ads and failure to address the withdrawal of candidates, threats to candidates was also condemned.
The BJP in Karnataka had posted on X a video on Muslim Reservations, which the letter to the ECI said spread hatred. “The video was taken down only after the Elections here were over, despite an FIR being filed,” stated the letter, signed by over 200 people from various walks of life.
The organisations, including People’s Union for Civil Liberties, National Alliance for People’s Movements, Bahutva Karnataka and All India Lawyers Association for Justice, undertook a national-level campaign on May 11 across several cities. “Along with these organisations, the letter was signed by 222 people from various walks of life, including lawyers, activists, filmmakers, academics and concerned citizens,” they said.
