Supreme Court: In a writ petition seeking direction to the Election Commission of India (‘ECI’) against hate speeches allegedly given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Anurag Thakur during the campaigns for Lok Sabha elections, the division bench of Vikram Nath and Satish Chandra Sharma, JJ. has dismissed the writ petition.
The petitioner had prayed for directing the ECI to initiate appropriate action against hate speeches being delivered by political campaigners, especially those on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party (‘BJP’) for the 2024 General Elections.
The petitioner contended that the speeches delivered constitutes a serious breach of the Model Code of Conduct, the Penal Code, 1860, and the Representation of People Act, 1951.
The petitioner prayed for the following reliefs:
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Direction to the ECI to take appropriate action against the violation of the Model Code of Conduct by the BJP and its representatives;
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Direction to the ECI to exercise its power under Article 324 and investigate the hate speech propagated by the PM and Anurag Singh Thakur, which the BJP reiterated through a video uploaded in its official Instagram account.
Source: Press
Image Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxBJOakSa5x/?hl=en&img_index=1, https://www.instagram.com/official.anuragthakur/?hl=en
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