Yechury Slams ECI for Inaction on Modi's Communal Speeches

CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury criticized the Election Commission for ignoring his party's complaints about communal speeches by Modi and BJP leaders. He accused the poll panel of leniently handling serious violations of the Model Code of Conduct and emphasized the need for stricter enforcement.

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday said the ''directive'' issued by the Election Commission does not address the issues raised by his party in its complaints, and accused the poll panel of handling ''grievous'' poll code violations with ''kid gloves''.

In a post on X, Yechury said, ''None of the issues raised in our complaints against the incendiary communal speeches of Modi and other BJP leaders have been addressed by ECI in today's directive.'' ''ECI's handling of such grievous MCC violations with kid gloves. Meekly handing out directives to ''maintain decorum'' etc. Cannot restore its credibility,'' the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader said in the post, where he also shared the notice sent to BJP president JP Nadda by the EC.

Yechury added that the EC must ensure that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is implemented.

The EC Wednesday wrote to Nadda directing the BJP and all concerned to follow the MCC in the ongoing elections. A similar letter was sent to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge as well.

The EC directed both parties to desist from campaigning along caste, community, language, and religious lines.

Noting that the country's socio-cultural milieu cannot be a casualty to elections, the poll panel told both Nadda and Kharge that utterances of star campaigners follow patterns and create narratives which can be damaging beyond the model code period.