Version imprimablePRESS RELEASE
May 11, 2024
MUMBAI : A civil society delegation met with Mr. S. Chockalingam, Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra in Mantralaya, Mumbai on May 11, 2024, raising serious concerns regarding the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
At the meeting, a joint letter petition endorsed by several civil society organisations and citizens to hold the Election Commission of India (ECI) accountable for its inaction against violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and laws during the Lok Sabha elections 2024, was submitted to Mr. S. Chockalingam. The letter petition raised critical issues on the delay in releasing the voter turnout data in numbers, the discrepancies in the 2019 voter data, failure to combat hate speech during elections, failure to take action against surrogate ads, failure to stop campaign violations, the need to take equal and impartial action against violating political parties and the withdrawal and threats to candidates, which are going unchecked.
Mr. Chockalingam assured the delegation that he would forward the concerns to the ECI and expressed his readiness to address issues concerning Maharashtra which fell under his jurisdiction.
While agreeing with the delegation that the voter turnout numbers must be shared with the citizens promptly, he explained the process of collecting data from polling stations in detail and said that he would take up the matter with the ECI to ensure that the numbers are put up.
On the issue of hate speech during election campaigning, he said that at least in his jurisdiction they are taking violations seriously and have already filed 280 FIRs, of which 211 are on MCC violations. On being asked on what punitive action is being taken against candidates to ensure that they do not repeat the violations by restricting them from campaigning, he said that such action is in the domain of the ECI. However, their office has been filing reports on violations and recommending stern action including censure, warnings, restricting campaign etc. against candidates who violate the MCC.
The delegation expressed concern about the prevalent hate speech in Maharashtra, which is continuing during the election campaign, and the need to take strict action against the offenders to ensure that communal sentiments are not incited to procure votes and vitiate the peace and unity in Maharashtra. The delegation also requested that preventive action be taken by his office to ensure that there is no hate speech in the coming week, which is crucial for the election campaign leading up to the voting on May 20, especially by the star campaigners.
Taking note of this demand, the CEO assured that he will ensure strict measures are taken against hate speech and will issue a warning to the parties and candidates to not engage in hate speech by releasing a public statement and will also declare the action taken by them by filing FIRs against violators. He also encouraged citizens to make use of the Civigil App and National Grievance Service Portal to report on such instances. An instance pointed out to him of hate speech in Amravati at the meeting, was taken cognisance of by the CEO by calling the Collector and asking him to file a report.
The delegation also pointed out that citizen
