Open Letter to Election Commission on  Concerns regarding the Conduct of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024

To,

The Chief Election Commissioner of India, Election Commission of India,

Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi – 110001.

10^th May 2024

Dear Sir,

Sub: Concerns regarding the conduct of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

We, the undersigned citizens of India, are writing to you with concerns regarding the manner in which the Lok Sabha 2024 elections are being conducted. With Phases 1, 2, and 3 of the elections completed on 19^th April, 26^th April and 7^th May, several issues have emerged calling into question the fairness as well as parity of the elections, which we are highlighting below for your action.

Voter turnout data must be shared in numbers

At the very outset, we are concerned that the voter turnout data for the now completed phases of the Lok Sabha 2024 elections for Phases 1,¹ 2,² and 3³ has been declared only in percentages as 66.14%, 66.71% and 65.68% respectively. However, actual and absolute numbers of voter turnout of how many votes were polled have not been released, in an unexplained departure from the norm.

We are aware that each presiding officer of a polling station compiles the votes polled data at the end of the poll and records the same in Form 17, which is handed over to the political party representatives and send to the Returning Officer, who in turn compiles data of all the polling stations and sends the final voter turnout to the EC. This is done in absolute numbers. In the 2019 elections, the data contained numbers of the actual total electors, total voters along with the percentage turnout in 2014 and compared with 2019 per constituency.⁴ The absolute numbers of gender- wise turnout in each constituency in 2019 was also released 2 days after polling in 2019.

However, only percentages have been released for the present elections without any numbers, raising concerns regarding the transparency in the conduct of the elections. Concerned members of civil society have earlier written to your office highlighting the need for proactive disclosures of votes polled due to the large fluctuation in voter figures,⁵ as in Phase 1, the ECI voter turnout estimate as of 7 pm on 19^th April was 60% but the updated figure published 11 days later on 30^th April was 66.14%, an unexplained jump of 6%. Similarly, for Phase 2, the approximate voter turnout as of 7 pm on 26^th April was stated to be 60.96% but was revised to 66.71% by 30^th April.⁶ This jump in voter turnout percentages, without any explanation, and after inordinate delays, hinders public trust in the electoral process.

It is well establishment that the hallmark of democratic elections is its fairness and transparency, as well as the fulfilment of the citizen’s right to information regarding the electoral process. Thus, it is imperative that the voter data be released in numbers and also be released without inordinate delays.

Discrepancies in 2019 voter data

In 2019, reports indicated discrepancies between votes polled and votes counted in the Lok Sabha elections in 373 constituencies, including a surplus of more than 18,000 in Kancheepuram, 14,512 in Sriperumbudur, etc.⁷ However, the ECI has merely explained this discrepancy in the Supreme Court as a discrepancy in the live voter turnout data which was uploaded on the website, and that there was no mismatch between the data of votes polled as per EVMs recorded in Form 17C and the results declared per Form 20.⁸ However, the response is not only evasive, but fails to address how the live voter turnout data published with inputs from polling station Presiding officers had such a huge discrepancy in several constituencies.

Failure to combat hate speech during elections

We are shocked by the increasingly hateful pitch of the present elections, in which candidates have engaged in flagrant violations of the Model Code of Conduct (“MCC”). Although the MCC prohibits the incitement of hatred and appeals to voters on religious grounds,⁹ there have been flagrant violations of the MCC by political parties, their candidates and star campaigners, including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is a star campaigner of the BJP. Although several complaints have been filed with the ECI regarding several of his speeches in violation of the MCC, mere notice has been issued to BJP Chief JP Nadda regarding a violation.¹⁰

We also note the repeated violations by candidates such as Tejasvi Surya, who have attempted to vitiate the atmosphere of communal harmony during elections. The BJP Karnataka party has also posted several hateful statements on social media, including the latest post on 04.05.2024 on “X” demonizing the Muslim community. We are concerned that the ECI ordered Twitter (“X”) to pull down the post,¹¹ but no action was taken against BJP Karnataka to either take down the post immediately or to ban any future posting by them. In fact, their post on “X” dated 23.04.2024 regarding the “Congress Manifesto or Muslim League Manifesto?” that evidently demonises the Muslim community and even goes so far as to state “The Congress’ sinister designs are clear: To take away the hard-earned money of Indians & to gift it to Muslims. They will seize our land, wealth and rights, only to gift them to ‘Peacefuls’.” is still available on “X”.¹²

There have also been hateful advertisements published in the newspaper by BJP Karnataka (latest on 05.05.2024 in Sunday Times) and open appeals to vote on the basis of religion by the BJP star campaigners and candidates, including Narendra Modi.¹³ We are gravely concerned by the repeated flagrant violations of the MCC by candidates and their parties, and the lack of strong action on the part of the ECI to not only curb such hate speeches, but to take effective action against the violators. Each day, appeals to vote on the basis of religion are being repeatedly made.

The Supreme Court has noted that persons of influence wield significant impact on the general public and owe a duty to be more responsible with their words, and that hate speech is a violation of the right to live with dignity.¹⁴ The Supreme Court has also noted that hate speech has a societal impact which lays the groundwork for later broad attacks on the vulnerable that can range from discrimination, to ostracism, segregation, deportation, violence and, in the most extreme cases, to genocide. The Court noted also that the root of the problem is not the absence of laws but a lack of effective execution, including effective regulation of hate speech by all agencies.¹⁵ Thus, it is imperative that the ECI takes pre-emptive action as well as remedial & punitive action against all hate speech during the elections.

Failure to take action against surrogate ads

It has been reported that the expenditure on surrogate advertising and targeted online campaigns by political actors to influence voter perception and beliefs are not under adequate scrutiny. The ECI must ensure accountability of political parties and digital platforms by adopting rights- based standards for regulating political expenditure on online ads and targeted campaigning. The ECI has also failed to disclose any action taken on such surrogate advertisements.

Although it has earlier been brought to the attention of your office the manner in which technology affects electoral outcomes,¹⁶ including use of deepfakes and voter surveillance, the ECI has not responded or taken adequate action to secure these violations.

Failure to take equal and impartial action against parties

We note the selective manner in which the ECI appears to be taking action against violations of the MCC, which vitiates a level playing field during elections. Although the ECI has issued directions to the Aam Aadmi Party mandating alterations to their campaign anthem, has barred K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the Founder of Bharat Rashtra Samithi, from campaigning for 48 hours for derogatory remarks against Congress, has barred A. Raja from campaigning for 48 hours and also delisted him from the DMK’s star campaigner list, similar action has not been taken against Narendra Modi or the BJP for their repeated violations of the MCC. We seek an explanation from the ECI regarding the action taken on several complaints against parties and why selective action has been taken.

Failure to stop campaigning violations

Although several violations have been brought to the notice of the ECI, including Narendra Modi’s hate speeches that demonize the Muslim community, proper action has not been taken against the violations, including delisting violators from the star campaigners list. Only notice has been issued in several violations or FIRs have been registered, without any stringent action against the political party.

We have noted that the lack of a level playing field has led to several opposition candidates to withdraw their candidature, including 8 candidates in Surat in which the seat has been won as uncontested by the BJP. The declaration of seats as won for being uncontested is a travesty, and the ECI must ensure not only that there is a level playing field, but that there are no threats or intimidations that are forcing candidates to withdraw.

We wish to highlight here that public trust in the electoral process is the indelible base on which our democracy is built. There have been pertinent concerns regarding the flagrant violations of the MCC, the freezing of accounts of opposition leaders, bias of mainstream media, the use of religious appeals for votes, discrepancies of voter turnout and a survey revealed an alarming decrease in trust of the ECI with “58% of the respondents expressed some or great distrust in the Election Commission in 2024 as opposed to 78% evincing trust in the poll body following the 2019 Lok Sabha election”.¹⁷

In order to secure public trust in the electoral process, we demand that the ECI must take urgent note of the above highlighted concerns and ensure a level-playing field in the remaining phases of the elections. We are reposing our faith in the ECI that it will take our concerns with the seriousness deserved, and respond with urgency.

Demands

1. Ensure that Mr. Modi who is a star campaigner for BJP is banned from campaigning for 96 hours.
2. Ensure that an inquiry is conducted into candidates being pressurised to withdraw/ being offered incentives to withdraw in Surat, Indore, Gandhinagar and elsewhere
3. Immediately declare the number of votes polled in all the three phases conducted so far
4. Explain conclusively the discrepancies in votes polled and counted in 2019
5. Ensure that action is taken against all parties for MCC violations
6. Take immediate action against surrogate ads by political parties

Sincerely,

1. People’s Union for Civil Liberties
2. National Alliance for People’s Movements
3. Bahutva Karnataka
4. All India Lawyers Association for Justice
5. Shramik Mukti Dal
6. Young Leaders of Active Citizenship
7. Bharat Bachao Andolan
8. Prashant
9. Hate Speech Beda
10. New Trade Union Initiative
11. Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy
12. Citizens for the Constitution
13. The Bombay Catholic Sabha
14. Centre for promoting Democracy
15. Pani Haq Samiti
16. Fridays For Future

Also signed by:

Name	Organisation / Affiliation	City / Town	State
Meher Marfatia	49/50 Books	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Brinelle D’Souza	Academic and Activist	Mumbai	Maharashtra
N Indira Rani	Activist	Hyderabad	Telangana
Neera Adarkar	Adarkar Associates	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Rakesh S	Advocate	Delhi	Delhi
Maimoona Mollah	AIDWA Delhi	New Delhi	Delhi
Avani Chokshi	AILAJ	Bangalore	Karnataka
Ponniah Rajamanickam	AIPSN	Madurai	Tamil Nadu
Faiza	ALIFA	DELHI	Delhi
A.Suneetha	All India Feminist Alliance	Hyderabad	Telangana
Madhulika	All India Lawyers Association for Justice	Bangalore	Karnataka
Mohamed Miandad	APCR	Chennai	Tamil Nadu
wasim abdulla	apcr	bangalore	karnataka
Ali Asghar	ASEEM	Hyderabad	Telangana
Proteep Mallik	Azim Premji University	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Rajkranti Ganpatrao walse	Badrinarayan Barwale Mahavidyalaya Jalna	Jalna	Maharashtra
Twisha	Bahutva Karnataka	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Sabyasachi Saikia	Bahutva Karnataka	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Sayantan Chowdhury	Barefoot Academy	Chennai	Tamil Nadu
Feroze Mithiborwala	Bharat Bachao Andolan	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Ali Bhojani	Bharat Bachao Andolan	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Shashi	Bharti Indian	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Dr Ahmad Faraz Khan	BPT	New Delhi	New Delhi
Mohammed S Pachorawala	Citizen	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Rohini	Citizen	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Samyuktha	Citizen	HYDERABAD	Telangana

Khairun nisha pathan	Citizen	Ahmedabad	Gujarat
Charu	Citizen of India	Amritsar	Punjab
Sabina Basha	Citizen of India	Bangalore	Karnataka
A.G.K. Menon	Citizen of India	New Delhi	National Capital Territory of Delhi
Manju V	CIVIC Bangalore	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Meera Madhav	Concerned citizen	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Vakkalanka Prasad	Concerned Citizen	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Shraddha	Concerned citizens	Bangalore	Karnataka
Gloria Clarence	Congregation	Sagar	Madhya Pradesh
Daanish Siraj	Congress	Hyderabad	Telangana
Ajit Patil	CPI ML Liberation	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Brian	DSouza	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Melwyn Remedios	ECI for fair elections	Calangute	GOA
Pratibha Rao	Educator	Bengaluru	Karnataka
S.Krishnaswamy	Ex Madurai Kamaraj University	Madurai	TN
Kesari Haravoo	Filmmaker	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Sagari R Ramdas	Food Sovereignty Alliance	Hyderabad	Telangana
Sandhya Gokhale	Forum Against Oppression of Women	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Forum Against Oppression of Women	Forum Against Oppression of Women	Mumbai	Maharashtra
M. R. Nandan	Founder member, Karnataka Physics Association	Bangalore	Karnataka
Suresh Pillai	Free and fair election.	Mumbai	Mahari
Makarand Sathe	Free lancer	Pune	Maharashtra
G.G.Parikh	Freedom Fighter	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Smriti Nevatia	Freelance	Bombay	Maharashtra
Anil	Freelance	Bhopal	MP
Vinay Shukla	Freelance Filmmaker	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Kamal Gopinath	Freelance journalist	Mysore	Karnataka
Gautam Sonti	Freelancer	Bangalore	Karnataka
Ankit Mumar Gupta	Garbage Free India	Kolkata	West Bengal
Shaikh Faiyaz Alam	Govandi Citizens Welfare Forum	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Sherna Dastur	Graphic Designer	Delhi	Delhi
K Babu Rao	H R F	Hyderabad	Telangana
Anisha	Hasrat-e-Zindagi Mamooli	Mumbai	Maharashtra

Mridul	Hasrat-e-Zindagi Mamuli	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Chayanika Shah	Hasrat-e-Zindagi Mamuli	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Shals Mahajan	Hasrat-e-Zindagi Mamuli	Mumbai	Maharashtra
S Z H Naqvi	HGVS	Rohtak	Haryana
Sharmila	Home maker	Bangalore	Karnataka
Dsouza	Home maker	Mumbai	MAHARASHTRA
Bindu Mitter	Homemaker	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Bernadette Cardoz	Housewife	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Guddi S.L	Hum Bharat ke Log	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Cedric Prakash	Human Rights Activist/ Writer	Ahmedabad	Gujarat
Reshma	Human rights forum	Hyderabad	Telangana
U. G. Srinivasulu	Human Rights Forum	Adoni Town	Andhra Pradesh
Dr. Joseph Xavier	IDEAS Centre	MADURAI	Tamil Nadu
Ravinder Kumar	IIaa	Bangalore	Karnataka
Juny K Wilfred	Iihs	Kochi	Kerala
Deepak Malghan	IIM Bangalore	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Ayan Banerjee	IISER Kolkata	Kalyani	West Bengal
Dennis Mendonca	INC	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Lalitha Matthew	Independant	Bengaluru	Karnataks
Preeti R	Independent	Bangalore	Karnataka
Sudha N	Independent	Bangalore	Karnataka
C G Manjula	Independent	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Navin	Independent	Hyderabad	Telangana
Shalu Nigam	Independent	Delhi NCR	Delhi
Pradyumna Rajashekar	independent	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Taanika	Independent	Bangalore	Karnataka
Ritu Menon	Independent	Delhi	Delhi
Rajashri Dasgupta	Independent Journalist	Kolkata	West Bengal
Freny Manecksha	Independent journalist	Thane	Maharashtra
Ammu Joseph	Independent journalist and author	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Veena Shatrugna	Independent Researcher	Bengaluru	Karnataka
A R Vasavi	Independent Researcher	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Prabhakaran	India citizen	Bangalore	Karnataka
KAMiNi GOPAL	Indian	Kodaikanal	Tamil Nadu
Paul Rajaguru	Indian Institute of Astrophysics	Bengaluru	Karnataka

Sushma Mallik	Indian Institute of Astrophysics	Bangalore	Karnataka
Suraj MN Hegde	Indian National Congress	Mysore	Karnataka
Pranay Maheshwari	Indian National Congress	Allahabad	Uttar Pradesh
Revathi kasturi	Individual	Bangalore	Karnataka
Alagammai	Individual	Chennai	Tamil Nadu
Sunil Shanbag	Individual	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Geeta Viswanathan	Individual	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Rajani G Rao santosh	Individual	Bangalore	karnataka
Archana Sarfare	Individual	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Renuka Kad	Individual	Aurangabad	Maharashtra
Sharada	Individual	Bangalore	Karnataka
Chhavi Sachdev	Individual	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Sd Lalita	Individual	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Anita Gambhir	Individual	Secunderabad	Telangana
Devavrat	INTACH	Mumbai	MHarashtra
Shaibani Azam	Jamia Millia University	New Delhi	Delhi
Anant Phadke	Jan Swasthya Abhiyan	Pune	Maharashtra
Subodh More	Jati Anta Sanghrsha Samiti, Maharashtra	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Jayoo Patwradhan	Jayoo Patwardhan	Pune	Maharashtra
Abulkhair Siddiqui	JIH	Lucknow	U.P.
M. Rajendran	Journalist	New Delhi	Delhi NCR
Dr Akhileshwari Ramagoud	Journalist and Academic	Secunderabad	Telangana
Lakshmi Manasa	JP Morgan Chase Co.	Bangalore	Karnataka
Vernon de Sa	K G Mittal Hospital	Mumbai	Maharashtra
S Viswanathan	KBA	Bangalore	Karnataka
Irshad	KurlaVoice Foundation	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Naazish	Lawyer	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Surbhi Karwa	Lawyer	Delhi	Delhi
Maansi	Maadhyam	Delhi	Delhi
Flavia Agnes	Majlis	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Shabbir Tamboli	Mash and associates	MUMBAI	Maharashtra
Manjulika Dubey	Member, Indian National Congress	New Delhi	Delhi
Bonnie Dias	N A	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Caroline	N.A.	Mumbai	Maharashtra

Nidhi	N/A	Bangalore	Karnataka
Samita Chatterjee	NA	Bengaluru	KARNATAKA
Dhruva Sen	NA	Bangalore	Karnataka
Anirudh Agarwal	NA	Delhi	Delhi
Dr.Sudhir Vombatkere	NAPM	Mysuru	Karnataka
Ashalatha S	NAPM	Hyderabad	Telangana
Satyajit Mayor	National Centre for Biological Science	Bangalore	Karnataka
Sujit Nikalje	Navi Mumbai Vikas Aghadi	Kharghar, Navi Mumbai	Maharashtra
Adeeb	No	Mangalore	Karnataka
Vijayan	No	CHENNAI	Tamilnadu
M.R.Honavar	none	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Sujata Chakraborty	None	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Chanda Singh	None	New Delhi	Delhi
Tanupam Akuli	None	Bangalore	Karnataka
Ashok Dey	None	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Sudeshna Banerjee	None	Kolkata	West Bengal
To save our democracy.	None	Baroda	Gujarat
Sriram	None	Hyderabad	Telangana
Nihal Khan Hegde	None	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Minaz Vaziralli	None	Bangalore	Karnataka
Campaign Against Hate Speech	Organisation	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Padmaja Shaw	Osmania University	Hyderabad	Telangana
Mohammed wajeed	Osmania university	Hyderabad	Telangana
Lara Jesani	People’s Union for Civil Liberties	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Suzan Rahaman	Personal	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Prajval Shastri	physicist	Bengaluru	Karnataka
s m shervani	private	new delhi	new delhi
Revathi Narayanan	Private citizen	Bangalore	Karnataka
Jayant Kochar	Private service	Gurgaon	Haryana
John dsouza	Professional	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Raghavan Rangarajan	Professor	Ahmedabad	Gujarat
Manisha	PSM	Rohtak	Haryana
Vertika Mani Tripathi	PUCL	Delhi	Delhi
Sudhir Kumar	PUCL	Chennai	Tamil Nadu

SARFARAZ	PUCL	Patna	Bihar
Vijayakumar	PUCL	Madurai	Tamilnadu
Sukla Sen	PUCL, Maharashtra	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Anwar Ali	Reclaim our Republic	Hyderabad	Telangana
Hasina k	Resaercher and gender activist	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Sushil Khanna	Retd professor IIM Calcutta	Kolkata	West Begal
Angeli Surendran	Retired	Kozhikode	Kerala
P.R.Vishwanath	retired	bangalore	karnataka
HariHaran Vedhagiri	Retired	Chennai	Tamilnadu
Nilum	Retired	Mumbai	Maharashtra
N.Rajaram	Retired academic	Vadodara	Gujarat
Soma Roy	Retired Professor of English, Women’s Christian College	Kolkata	West Bengal
Dr M Mazumdar	Retired Scientist	Kolkata	West Bengal
A Majumdar	Retired Teacher	Bolpur	West Bengal
Rabin Chakraborty	Retired Teacher of Calcutta University	Kolkata	West Bengal
Joshua Chakramakal	RV University	Bangalore	Karnataka
Amrita Bhattacharjee	Save Aarey Movement	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Ashwin Viswanathan	Scientist	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Abulkhair Siddiqui	Self	BHOPAL	M.P.
Ree	Self	New delhi	Delhi
Anam	Self	New Delhi	Delhi
Rizwan khan	Self	Nizamabad	Telangana
Rahul Pai	Self	Bangalore	Karnataka
V.C.RaviChandran	Self	Chennai	Tamil Nadu
RAVI KUMAR	Self	Hyderabad	Telangana
Shalini Sanil	self	Ernakulam	Kerala
Natasha Iype	Self	Bangalore	Karnataka
Paul Rosario	Self employed	Kudal	Mh
Subhankar Biswas	Self employed professional	Bangalore	Karnataka
Geeta Varma	Self Engaged	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Pervin	Self-employed	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Ritu Khanna	Self-employed	New Delhi	Delhi
Mohit Gujarathi	Self. Citizen of India.	Thane, Mumbai.	Maharashtra
A K Laskar	Senior citizen	Bengaluru	Karnataka

Kripa	SFI	Hyderabad	Telangana
Dilip Hota	Shramik Mukti Dal	Pune	Maharashtra
Aafreen	SMBT	Nashik	Maharashtra
Shaik Salauddin	Social Activist	Hyderabad	Telangana
Farooq Hussain	Social activist	HYDERABAD	Telangana
Khalida parveen	Social Activist	Hyderabad	Telangana
Parul Dandikar	Social worker	Vadodara	Gujarat
Dr Kanade	Socialist Foundation Pune	Pune	Maharashtra
Dr Smita Krishnan	St Xavier’s College Mumbai	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Dr. P. Rajesh Anantha Selvan	St. John’s College	Tirunelveli	Tamilnadu
Agnes Vadasherry	St.Joseph’s convent	Bhopal	Madhya pradesh
Nidhi Singh Netam	Student at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda	Vadodara	Gujarat
Diya Elizabeth Prakash	Student of Law, O P Jindal Global University	Sonipat	Haryana
Rahul Dewanjee	SundayOne	Kolkata	West Bengal
Anjan Nandi	Teacher	Kolkata	West Bengal
Dolphy Dsouza	The Bombay Catholic Sabha	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Prem Chandavarkar	Thinking citizen	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Archana tanaje	Unorganised workers union	Mumbai	Maharashtra
Dwiji guru	Voter ID Bengaluru South parliamentary constituency	Bengaluru	Karnataka
Sajaya K	Women & Transgender Orgs JAC	Hyderabad	Telangana
Aakar Patel	Writer	Bangalore	Ktaka
Adithi Holla	Young Leaders of Active Citizenship	Bengaluru	Karnataka

1 https://elections24.eci.gov.in/docs/Gw9Dq3DfAm.pdf.

2 https://elections24.eci.gov.in/docs/Gw9Dq3DfAm.pdf.

3 https://twitter.com/SpokespersonECI/status/1788253069496689050/photo/1.

4      https://thewire.in/government/voter-turnout-data-should-be-shared-in-numbers-not- percentages.

5 Authenticated voter turnout data to be contained in Part 1 of Form 17C r/w Rule 49S of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961.

6 https://twitter.com/AnjaliB_/status/1788568226974052509.

7 https://www.thequint.com/news/india/lok-sabha-election-results-2019-mismatch-in- votes-polled-and-counted-in-evm-on-multiple-seats#read-more.

8 https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/no-mismatch-between-votes-polled-votes-counted- in-2019-lok-sabha-elections-eci-tells-supreme-court-255418.

9 Section 123(3A) of the Representation of People Act, 1951; Chapter 7.2. “Corrupt Practices and Electoral Offences” in 7.2.2.(iii) of the MCC; “Do’s and Don’ts for Guidance of Candidates” at clause 13; Model Code of Conduct Rule I “General Conduct” under Clause

(1); Model Code of Conduct Rule I “General Conduct” under Clause (2); Model Code of Conduct Rule I “General Conduct” under Clause (3); Model Code of Conduct’s Clause 12 “Maintenance of High Standards During Election Campaign” at IX; ECI Advisory to political parties on plummeting level of public discourse during campaigning dated 01.03.2024.

10 https://www.thehindu.com/elections/lok-sabha/election-commission-issues-notice-to- bjp-chief-nadda-on-alleged-model-code-violation-against-pm-modi/article68105108.ece.

11 https://twitter.com/arvindgunasekar/status/1787815829603811756.

12 https://twitter.com/BJP4Karnataka/status/1782644550747742553.

13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je9U12u-Q6g.

14 Amish Devgan v. Union of India ((2021) 1 SCC 1).

15 Pravasi Bhalai Sangathan v. Union of India and Ors. (AIR 2014 SC 1591).

16https://internetfreedom.in/civil-society-writes-to-eci-on-2024-elections/?ref=static.internetfreedom.in.

17       https://www.thehindu.com/elections/lok-sabha/a-large-majority-of-indians-want-to- retain-plurality-survey/article68055057.ece.