The complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for seeking votes in the name of Pulwama martyrs mysteriously went missing from the Election commission Website.
NDTV reported that not only was the violation not listed on the master list containing 426 complaints displayed with a status next to each, but the website also said the original complaint was ‘resolved’ even when it was not.
Earlier, the EC had said that local poll authorities told them that prima facie, the PM has violated EC’s instructions against invoking the armed forces in election campaign. However, the EC is yet to take any action in this regard and the report has been with the EC for the past two weeks.
Just spoke to a senior official in the Election Commission. Said there will ‘soon be action’ on the politicisation of the air strikes. To my question how soon, said ‘it will be before the end of the elections’. @OnReality_Check
— Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) April 24, 2019
NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain said a top official in the EC told him, “There will soon be action.”
When the journalist asked what “soon” meant, the official reportedly said, “We will not wait for the election to end.”
Jain added, “He (EC top official) also said poll officers were still collecting details.”
Addressing a rally in Maharashtra’s Latur on April 9, Modi had said, “Can your first vote be dedicated to those who carried out the air strike. I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan. Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer shaheed (brave martyrs) of Pulwama (terror attack).”
It was one Mahendra Singh who lodged the initial complaint against the PM on EC’s ‘National Grievances Service’ portal. When he logged in to check the status of the complaint, the website termed it as ‘resolved’.
The EC has reportedly blamed the ‘resolved’ status on an IT glitch.
The plot thickens over the PM’s vote-for-martyrs speech. Complainant logs in to EC interface to check status of his complaint; it says ‘resolved’.
But EC tells @arvindgunasekar complaint is ‘still open’. Blames technical glitch for displaying wrong status!@OnReality_Check pic.twitter.com/tOH9yx3UVx
— Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) April 24, 2019
Now, the Commission has sought an explanation from the concerned returning officer for the ‘resolved’ error.
EC’s response to our story does not address 1) what is status of complaint against PM, now almost 14 days old? 2) why is it missing in EC’s master list of complaints? @OnReality_Check https://t.co/SM8PtvF5xQ
— Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) April 25, 2019
“The status should have shown that the matter has been referred to Election Commission headquarters. But the entry reflected that the complaint as resolved … it is being rectified,” a senior EC functionary told PTI, adding that an explanation has been sought from the concerned official.
Also Read: Shame: Modi Asks People to Vote in The Name of Pulwama Martyrs, Balakot
(With PTI inputs)