Lok Sabha elections 2024: EC prepares to crack down on ‘4 Ms’

Muscle power, money, misinformation and model code of conduct (MCC) violations – chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday outlined four “Ms” that presented critical challenges ahead of the summer’s general elections and said the poll panel was tailoring plans to tackle each of them.

Each challenge presents itself to varying degrees in different states, Kumar said during a press briefing in Delhi.

“Just like some states are more prone to using muscle, some states are more prone to abusing money. We are fully aware that there are differential vulnerabilities in each state. Some have more violence, some have more money [related problems], some have more geography-related problems,” he said.

“So, whichever problem pertains to the particular state, we will have a specific treatment, based on a differential analysis,” added Kumar.

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Stressing the MCC’s importance, Kumar said campaigns should be “based on issues” and devoid of hate speech or appeals that lean on caste or religion.

“We have combined all the advisories related to MCC violations issued over the last five years into one big advisory. In it, we have put all political parties on notice. We have asked political parties to give a copy of our guidelines to each star campaigner. We have put them on notice. We will presume knowledge of the guidelines. These are the two fundamental changes we have made silently,” he said.

Unlike the past, when the advisories worked as a “moral censor”, Kumar said the poll body will look at the past record too.“We might look at a calibrated approach dealing with MCC violations,” he said.

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When asked if this approach would adversely penalise the opposition, Kumar replied: “Look at all the complaints we have received over the last 11 elections. Then look at the notices we have issued. In case of violations, we have given notices and haven’t started inquiries after receiving responses in each case. As I said, these advisories are a moral censor.”

“No matter how talla star campaigner is, if there is a case to be made against them, we will not sit back, we will take action against them.”

He also underscored the harms of worsening political discourse, especially amid the proliferation of social media, and asked political parties to not cross the “red line” ofelectoral dialogue.

“In this digital world, whatever is uttered remains in memory for a hundred years. ... please avoid creating a digital memory of bad words,” he said.

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Keeping poll violence at bay

The CEC said that the poll body has instructed district magistrates and police chiefs to snuff out any violence during the elections.

“We will conduct a strict inquiry when we receive complaints,” he said.

“We have established a 24x7 integrated control room in all districts to deal with the issue of muscle power... This control room will have five kinds of feeds – TV, social media, webcasting from the booths, 1950 (toll-free number) on which we get complaints, and the grievances portal. A senior officer will be available in the control rooms in every district to look at these five feeds,” he said.

Police are also surveilling all people with criminal records to preempt trouble, Kumar said.

To stem the flow of illegal goods, check posts have also been set up at international borders, inter-state borders and other possible nodes.

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“Drones will be used to conduct checks along some international borders,” he said.

To ensure that elections are conducted impartially, the commission had instructed all district magistrates to transfer officials who had been in a particular area for more than three years.

“Accountability starts with the head of the district,” he said. He also said that no volunteers and contractual staff will be allowed on election duty.

Financial crackdown

The ECI has met enforcement agencies in all states to prevent the misuse of money and also chalked out elaborate inter-departmental monitoring mechanisms to keep illegalities at bay.

“We will immediately meet all enforcement agencies in Delhi as well,” Kumar said. The aim is to stop the distribution of all freebies, liquor, cash, cooker, saree, washing machines, etc, he said.

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“We have directed the (departments of) GST (goods and services tax), excise, state police, income tax, customs, coast guard, BSF, SSB, narcotics, in places where the possibility of such freebies being handed out,” he said.

The GST department, for instance, will monitor if there is a spurt in demand for consumer goods in particular areas. “NPCI would look at if there is a spurt in the demand from the wallets. We noticed money going through digital means in one-two states,” he said. Banks will send EC “almost daily” reports of suspicious transactions.

Dedicated teams from the income tax department will look for movement through airstrips.

“In states where there are non-commercial airstrips, where helicopters can land, we have got the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to issue detailed instructions that wherever chartered flights and helicopters land, the luggage will undergo the same kind of checking as at commercial airports,” Kumar said. Railways and roads will be similarly monitored.

“Political finance is in the news these days. This is our effort to add to it so that there are much cleaner elections,” Kumar said, referring to the recent disclosures around buyers of electoral bonds.

In the last eleven assembly elections, ₹3,400 crore in cash had been seized, an 835% increase over 2017-18. Meghalaya saw the highest increase at 6295% ( ₹74 crore) while Gujarat saw the biggest seizure at ₹802 crore (2847%).