Neeraj Rohmetra
Jammu, Apr 2: Despite clear directions from Election Commission of India (ECI) to remove references of politicians/ Ministers from the official websites, the State Government has not initiated any steps in this direction.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR that the ECI vide letter no. 437/6/INST/2014-CC&BE dated March 20, this year has written specific letter to Chief Secretaries to the Governments of all States and Union Territories and copy of letter has also been sent to the Chief Electoral Officers.
“As per the communiqué issued by ECI, the letter has expressed concern over various Ministers/politicians eulogizing the work done by various Government Department and Organization in these websites as their personal achievements while Model Code of Conduct is in force”, sources asserted.
The letter states that earlier also the Commission through various letters had issued instructions for deletion of all references on politicians/ Ministers on the official website during election period to Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies.
“It has come to the notice of the Commission that the instructions of the ECI are not being followed by the State Governments during elections period”, says the letter while referring to the clause VII (iv) of the Model Code of Conduct for guidance of political parties and candidates.
Presently, all official websites in Jammu and Kashmir State pertaining to various Ministries including Health and Medical Education, Home, Roads and Buildings, Education, Finance, Planning, Law, Rural Development, Forest, Housing and Urban, PHE & Irrigation, Agriculture, Social Welfare, Horticulture, Tourism, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution; Revenue and Relief, Cooperative and several others are highlighting the achievements of their respective political masters.
The letter, while referring to “Clause VII – Party in Power” says, “the party in power in the State concerned, shall ensure that no cause is given for any complaint that it has used its official position for the purpose of its election campaign and in particular, the misuse of official mass media during the election period and publicity regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided”.
“The Commission has considered the question of various references currently available in the Ministerial office website pertaining to several Departments and Government Organizations highlighting their achievements but eulogizing the same as personal achievements of Politicians/ Ministers”, says the document.
Elaborating further the document says, “the Commission has decided that during the period, when Model Code of Conduct is in force in connection with general elections to the Lok Sabha currently going on, all references of Ministers, politicians or political parties available on such State Governments’ official websites, shall be removed”.
“The Commission has directed the State Government to ensure strict compliance of these instructions pertaining to the mis-use of official websites”, concludes the letter written by Principal Secretary, K.Ajay Kumar.
“However, a survey of all the website of existing Ministries in Jammu and Kashmir clearly indicates that no steps have been take for compliance of instructions issued by the Commission this direction”, sources asserted.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir election authorities have so far received 48 complaints of alleged violations in connection with Lok Sabha elections.
“Forty eight complaints have been received by election authorities with regard to LS polls in Jammu and Kashmir till now,” a senior official of J&K Election Department said.
While 28 complaints were filed directly by different political parties to the Election Commission of India, the rest 20 were filed to Chief Electoral officer (CEO) through different Returning Officers.
“All the 20 complaints filed to Election Authority have been disposed of,” officer said.The complaints filed to ECI have been sent to J&K Election Department for further investigation and disposal and they are under process, he said.
Among them is a complaint against Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and another against a two-time MP Madan Lal Sharma.BJP had on March 27 filed a formal complaint against Azad, Congress candidate for Udhampur-Kathua-Doda seat, alleging that in his recent affidavit he had stated to have bought a plot in 1994 at Washim in Maharashtra but he did not declare the same, when he contested from Bhaderwah assembly seat during his tenure as Chief Minister in 2005-2008.
Sharma has been accused of violating the Model Code of Conduct by taking a large number of the people to office of Returning Officer during filing of nomination papers in violation of ECI guidelines.
“The notice was given to MP and he has replied,” the official said.
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