India: The violation of Section 126(1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 as well as the Model Code of Conduct by Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India - Letter to the Election Commission

February 24, 2022

Mr. Sushil Chandra
Chief Election Commissioner of India
schandra[at]eci.gov.in
Mr. Rajiv Kumar
Election Commissioner of India
ecrk[at]eci.gov.in
Mr. Anup Chandra Pandey
Election Commissioner of India
ecacp[at]eci.gov.in
Election Commission of India,
Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road,
New Delhi, Delhi 110001.

Dear Sirs,

Sub: In the matter of: The violation of Section 126(1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 as well as the Model Code of Conduct by Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, in his interview dated 09.02.2022 to Ms. Smita Prakash of ANI; and
In the matter of: The Constitutional responsibility of the Election Commission to uphold the purity of the Electoral Process

We write to you with reference to the captioned subject. Mr. Narendra Modi gave an interview to Ms. Smita Prakash of ANI which was broadcast live across several news channels at 8 p.m. on 09.02.2022, which was less than 24 hours before polls were scheduled to close in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections on 10.02.2022. The link for the interview, as available on the official YouTube channel of Mr. Modi, is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXzB_Ub9QVk&ab_channel=NarendraModi.
It is pertinent to note that the interview was streamed live by Mr. Modi on his official YouTube Channel and his official Twitter Handle on 09.02.2022 (The twitter broadcast link is: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1DXxyDLwPdZJM).

During the course of the interview, Mr. Modi made several statements seeking to directly influence polling in Uttar Pradesh on the next day, including inter alia:

• That the Bharatiya Janata Party (