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MEMORANDUM

May 10th, 2019

Ref: 0051A/2019

SERIOUS CORRUPT PRACTICES BY THE BJP

INDEX

SL. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.


NO
1. Representation 2-6

2. Annexure – 1: 7-10
Copy of the ‘Hindustan Times’ articles
publishing the incident.

3. Annexure – 2: 11-12
Copy of this Hon’ble Commission’s directions
for the party in power.

4. Annexure – 3: 13-15
Excerpts from BJP Manifesto 2019.

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MEMORANDUM

May 10th, 2019

Ref: 0051A/2019

To,

Chief Election Commissioner &


His Companion Election Commissioners of India

The Election Commission of India,


Nirvachan Sadan
New Delhi - 110001

Dear Sirs,

RE: ALLEGATIONS OF SERIOUS CORRUPT PRACTICES BY


THE BJP

Request for immediate and necessary actions against the BJP,


the party in power from misusing government machinery for
poll purposes in the General Elections 2019.

On behalf of the Indian National Congress, we the undersigned are


compelled to bring to the urgent attention of this Hon’ble Commission
yet another, blatant violation of electoral laws by the Prime Minister.

I.
On May 10th 2019, the ‘Hindustan Times’ a leading English daily
published an investigative article that revealed outrageous and
egregious corrupt practices carried out allegedly by the party in power,
the Bhartiya Janata Party through the Central Government’s ministries
and departments.

As per the investigative piece, an E-mail was sent to various


departments under the Ministry of Commerce, including the
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (“DPIIT”),
that sought inputs from the Vision 2024 document on initiatives such as

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Start-up India and Invest India that offer incentives to young
entrepreneurs and the start-up ecosystem.

Further, another E-mail dated March 28th, 2019, from Aastha Grover,
senior investment specialist addressed to 130 members of Invest India
wrote –

“Please elaborate on your respective points for the


Startup India vision document.... This has to go in the
election manifesto.” [Emphasis added]

On realizing that the abovementioned acts violated the Model


Code of Conduct the “DPIIT” officials reportedly sent a verbal
direction to delete all such emails.

A copy of the ‘Hindustan Times’ article publishing the abovementioned


story is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure – 1.

It must be pointed that according to the start-up Vision 2024 document,


Start-up India envisions achieving the following in the next five years
starting from June 2019:

• facilitate establishment of 50,000 new start-ups in the


nation by 2024,
• creating two million direct and indirect jobs, and
• setting up 500 new incubators and accelerators by
2024.
• create 100 innovation zones in urban local bodies.

The, BJP, on the other hand has brazenly proposed the exact same
schemes in their manifesto for 2019 General elections. Excerpts from
BJP’s 2019 manifesto are as under;

“The party will launch a new scheme to provide


collateral-free credit up to Rs. 50 lakh for entrepreneurs.
India is now among the largest start-up ecosystems of the
world.
….
We will further strengthen this ecosystem by:
facilitating establishment of 50,000 new start-
ups in the nation by 2024, creating 100
innovation zones in urban local bodies, setting

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up 500 new incubators and accelerators by
2024.”

A copy of the relevant excerpts in the BJP Manifesto are annexed


herewith and marked as Annexure – 2.

It may be noted that on April 30th, 2019 we had brought to the attention
of the Hon’ble ECI similar violations where the Niti Ayog had been
pressed into service for political purposes as well. No action has been
taken on that complaint as of yet.

Needless to say, in the face of multiple reports the Hon’ble Commission


must take action as soon as possible. Otherwise the entire purpose of
such complaints stands vitiated by the delay and the offending parties
get a ‘de-facto’ clean chit.

II.
The BJP in another brazen and blatant attempt of leveraging
government machinery for political purposes, has not only violated this
Hon’ble Commission’s orders but also the electoral laws under the
Representation of People’s act, 1951. The abovementioned violations
read as under;

123. Corrupt practices.—The following shall be


deemed to be corrupt practices for the purposes of this
Act:—

(7) The obtaining or procuring or abetting or


attempting to obtain or procure by a candidate
or his agent or, by any other person 11[with the
consent of a candidate or his election agent], any
assistance (other than the giving of vote) for the
furtherance of the prospects of that candidate’s
election, from any person in the service of the
Government and belonging to any of the following
classes, namely:—
(a) gazetted officers;
(b) stipendiary judges and magistrates;
(c) members of the armed forces of the Union;
(d) members of the police forces;
(e) excise officers; 13[(f) revenue officers other
than village revenue officers known as
lambardars, malguzars, patels, deshmukhs or by

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any other name, whose duty is to collect land
revenue and who are remunerated by a share of,
or commission on, the amount of land revenue
collected by them but who do not discharge any
police functions; and]
(g) such other class of persons in the service of the
Government as may be prescribed: 14[Provided
that where any person, in the service of the
Government and belonging to any of the classes
aforesaid, in the discharge or purported discharge
of his official duty, makes any arrangements or
provides any facilities or does any other act or
thing, for, to, or in relation to, any candidate or his
agent or any other person acting with the consent
of the candidate or his election agent (whether by
reason of the office held by the candidate or for
any other reason), such arrangements, facilities or
act or thing shall not be deemed to be assistance
for the furtherance of the prospects of that
candidate’s election.] person who is held to have
acted as an agent in connection with the election
with the consent of the candidate. 15[(8) Booth
capturing by a candidate or his agent or other
person.] Explanation.—(1) In this section the
expression “agent” includes an election agent, a
polling agent and any person who is held to have
acted as an agent in connection with the election
with the consent of the candidate.

Furthermore, the Model Code of Conduct strictly prohibits the party in


power or its ministers from using the official machinery for
electioneering work.

“The Ministers shall not combine their official visit with


electioneering work and shall not also make use of
official machinery or personnel during the
electioneering work.” [Emphasis Added]

A copy of this Hon’ble Commission’s directions for the party in power


are annexed herewith and marked as Annexure – 3.

III.

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This entire election has been fraught with unprecedented and brazen
violations by the BJP and its members, despite the orders passed by this
Hon’ble Commission and the law laid down by Parliament.

In light of the above, we take it upon ourselves to remind this Hon’ble


Commission of its constitutional mandate to ensure a level playing field
and to take necessary steps to bring such violations at complete halt.
The Election Commission must take immediate action and call for
urgent investigation against such a blatant abuse of power by BJP.

We hope the Commission treats this matter with the attention it


deserves.

Warm regards,

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