Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday flagged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's speech stating '80 per cent, 20 per cent' and alleged that it was a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
Singh was reacting to a tweet by former Home Secretary Sanjeev Gupta, who in turn was reacting to Adityanath's comment aired by a TV channel that "UP elections will be about '80 per cent vs 20 per cent'" by tweeting how this is violation of the very first point mentioned in the MCC by Election Commission.
Elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly are to be held in seven phases and notification for the first phase is to be issued on January 14 for polling on February 10. It was, however, not clear in the clip aired by the TV channel as to where and in which context Adityanath was speaking.
Point 1 in the General Conduct for MCC for the guidance of political parties and candidates mentions: "No party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic."
Alluding that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's remark tantamounts to aggravating existing differences or creates mutual hatred, Gupta also tweeted: "I've dealt with quite a few violations of MCC during my career but this one is appalling beyond words. I'm also shocked by equally weird responses."
Reacting to Gupta's tweet, Digvijaya Singh tweeted: "Wake up and show some Spine Hon Chairman and Members of Central Election Commission. Just watch what Yogi and their Ad campaign are projecting.
"Also please keep watch on Social Media sites of messages of Hatred and Violence."
The EC' FAQ about social media does mention that political advertising and political content on social media also come under the purview of MCC "since social media websites are also electronic media by definition, therefore Commission's instructions with regards to pre-certification of political advertisements shall also apply mutatis mutandis to websites including social media websites."
"Provisions of Model Code of Conduct and related instructions of the Commission issued from time to time shall also apply to the content being posted on the Internet, including social media websites, by candidates and political parties," it said.
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