Election Commission Warns Against Interfering with Legal Process in Politician Investigations

The election body reaffirmed its promise to make sure the upcoming polls are unbiased despite the accusations from opposition about the political opponents being persecuted by the Central Investigation Agencies during the election period. The Commission indicated that it considers to provide for a situation where the rule of law prevails and respect to judicial process is maintained, hence any action which could in any way interfere with the law is prohibited.


An array of political parties inside the Indian political spectrum set out their complaints with the Election Commission, insisting that the government is taking an unfair advantage of the probing agencies to gag the opposition on corruption charges.


The arrest by the Enforcement Directorate of the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, on the matter of money laundering in connection with a so-called excise scam brought forth further criticisms from the opposition which said that the government was using the elections as a pretext for the silence its opposition.


The Election has also formulated a statement that it considers the constitutional design when it encounters the real scenarios concerning the politicians under active scrutiny of judicial system due to the investigative activity.


The matter of guaranteeing that candidates and political parties get a chance to campaign has been dealt with by the Commission, but it has resisted the temptation of taking any actions that might jeopardize legal proceedings. The statement emphasized a non-compulsory character of the Code while highlighting detailed actions of the Commission’s implementation thereof and disclosed its enforcement in the first month of the Code.


This precautionary measure taken by the EC is a direct response to the speculations and rumor mills which fabricate narratives regarding certain actions of the Commission. In the first month of the Model Code's implementation, the majority of the major parties either made complaints about the violations or the Election Commission heard out the complaints and addressed them on time.

This is the EC’s preemptive move to apprehend and defuse any innuendos and apprehensions being hurled from some quarters pertaining to its actions. The EC issued warnings and issued directions to the parties concerned as quickly as possible within a month of the Model Code of Conduct being enforced if a political party lodged a complaint for an alleged violation.


The EC revealed that they had registered a total of around 200 complaints that were linked to different political parties and political candidates, they had investigated in 169 cases. These cases included 38 complaints from the BJP and 51 complaints from the Congress and just under half them, 38 and 51 respectively, were assessed to be worthy of action.


During the implementation of the Election Model Code on March 16, the EC mentioned that in the whole process, there were no major concerns raised by political parties as the campaign atmosphere is mostly free of clutter. Nevertheless, numerous problematic trends causing non-compliance have been focused in the so-called satellite program run by the Commission.


The EC locked horns with the establishment of fair treatment of all parties in the absence of their standing and characterized its attitude in line with its duties, impartiality, and open-mindedness. The Commission also insisted on the preservation of decency and integrity of women officials, and reprimanded with harsh measures the politicians who were spreading offensive statements against women.


The use of the advanced tool – cVIGIL – by the EC made this whole process quicker than before allowing the EC to deal with complaints and violations in minutes instead of hours which, in turn, reduced the occurrence of the most common violations such as candidate defacement and campaigning outside the prescribed time frame.


Whereas the Model Code of Conduct is as an essential tool of the Election Commission to safeguard election conduct and to promote fairness and ethics in campaigning, it also demonstrates its commitment to the cause of democracy.