Plea before Delhi High Court seeks 6-year poll ban on PM Narendra Modi for invoking religion to seek votes

A plea has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly violating the model code of conduct (MCC) by allegedly seeking votes in the name of "god and place of worship" for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. .The plea has been filed by a lawyer named Anand S Jondhale, who referred to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader's speech in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh on April 9. Jondhale said that during his speech, PM Modi appealed to the voters to vote for BJP in the name of "Hindu deities and Hindu place of worships as well as Sikh deities and Sikh place of worship.".The plea has sought disqualification of PM Modi from contesting any elections for a period of six years. ."That Respondent No.2 [Modi] said that he has constructed the Ram Temple. Respondent No.2 also stated that he developed Kartarpur Sahib Corridor and removed GST from material used in Langars served in Gurudwaras. The Respondent No.2 also said that he had brought back the copies of Guru Granth Sahib from Afghanistan," the plea alleged. Jondhale argued that PM Modi violated the Model Code of Conduct mentioned in Compendium of Instructions Volume-III under Rules General Conduct-I(1) and (3). The provision states that no party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes or communities, religious or linguistic. "It further says that there shall be no appeal to caste or community feelings for securing votes. Mosque, Churches, Temples or other places of worship shall not be used as forum for election propaganda," Jondhale contended. He added that PM Modi not only sought votes in the name of Hindu and Sikh deities and their places of worship but also made comments against opposite political parties as favoring Muslims. "This statement of the Respondent No.2 creating hatred by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities," the plea said. .The petitioner stated that even though he approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) with a prayer to register FIR against the Prime Minister under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and to disqualify Modi from contesting elections for six years, the Commission took no action.