– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
15 May 2024: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a plea seeking direction to the ECI to take action against the alleged hate speeches made by BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the ongoing General Elections.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Satish Chandra Sharma said that the court was not keen to issue any direction as sought in the petition.
The petition was filed by one EAS Sarma and others. Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the petitioners, contended that the poll body was not doing its job properly. To which the Court replied, ‘We are not inclined to interfere. We cannot issue such directions under Article 32 of the Constitution.’
The plea raised concerns over the speeches delivered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur, along with the content posted by the BJP on its social media handles.
While declining to entertain the plea, the court observed that “worse things may happen when the next election comes up.”
Another plea rejected…
The same bench also refused to entertain another plea seeking a direction to the EC to disqualify Prime Minister Narendra Modi from elections for six years under the Representation of People Act. The plea contended that on April 21, as a part of the poll campaign rally in Banswara, Rajasthan “he aimed at creating enmity between groups.”
During the brief hearing, the bench asked the petitioner Fatima to approach the relevant authorities with the grievance. Have you approached the authorities first, asked the bench.
When the petitioner urged to allow the plea to be withdrawn, the court said, “dismissed as withdrawn.”
Meanwhile, participating in a panel discussion with Justice Lokur and advocate Kapil Sibal, a senior advocate and former president of Bar Association of the Supreme Court Dushyant Dave said, “If the election is deflected on the grounds of religion, as it is being done on a daily basis then the Supreme Court has a constitutional duty and obligation to intervene and stop it.”
Kapil Sibal informed the panellists that since 2019 the ECI has issued not less than 27 notices to the Prime Minister, but no action till today!
