MEMORANDUM

April 30th, 2019

Ref: 0043A/2019

SERIOUS CORRUPT PRACTICES BY THE PRIME MINISTER,

NARENDRA MODI

INDEX

SL. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

NO
1. Representation 2-6

2. Annexure – 1: 7-16
Copy of the ‘Scroll.in’ & ‘The wire.in’ articles
publishing the abovementioned incident.

3. Annexure – 2: 17-19
Copy of this Hon’ble Commission’s letter dated
November 23rd, 2007.

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 MEMORANDUM

April 30th, 2019

Ref: 0043A/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 PRIME MINISTER, NARENDRA MODI

Request for immediate and necessary directions to prevent

the Prime Minister’s Office 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, and perhaps the most heinous, violation of electoral laws
by the Prime Minister.

I.
On April 10th 2019, ‘Scroll.in’ an online news portal conducted an
investigation that revealed outrageous and egregious corrupt practices
being carried out allegedly by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi
through the Central Government’s organization the ‘Niti Aayog’.

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The investigation cited an email by Pinky Kapoor, Economic Officer
(Coordination of states) of ‘Niti Aayog’ which was addressed to the
Adviser to the Administrator, Chandigarh, the Chief Secretary of Delhi
and the Chief Secretary of Puducherry, among others and required all
the abovementioned Officers to provide the Prime Minister’s Office
with ‘Write–ups’ about destinations Mr. Narendra Modi was
carrying/had carried out rallies in to campaign the for General
Elections 2019.

Further, the investigative piece also cited evidence of a similar request

to a collector in Maharashtra right before Prime Minister Modi
addressed rallies in Wardha, Gondia and Latur. The collector of
Gondia district, Kadambari Balkawade, had sent a note to ‘Niti Aayog’
with a write-up on the district. The subject line of the email was:

“Write up/information for Gondia District for Prime

Minister’s Office”.

A copy of the ‘Scroll.in’ & ‘The wire.in’ articles publishing the

abovementioned incident is annexed herewith and marked as
Annexure – 1.

II.
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on numerous occasions has
blatantly violated this Hon’ble Commission’s Orders. However, the
abovementioned violation is not a mundane violation but an outrageous
one and calls for immediate investigation by the relevant authorities.

The Prime Minister, has, yet again, violated the Representation of

People Act, 1951 and this Hon’ble Commission’s dated letter
No.437/6/2007-PLN-III dated November 23rd, 2007. The
abovementioned violations read as under;

Section 123(7) in The Representation of the People Act, 1951:

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123. Corrupt practices.—The following shall be
deemed to be corrupt practices for the purposes of this
Act:— 1[

(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
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

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 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 Election Commission’s letter No.437/6/2007-PLN-II,

dated November, 23rd 2007, reads as under;

The Commission, in order to ensure a level playing field

which is a precondition for free and fair elections, has
issued instructions from time to time governing such
tours of ministers and has prescribed certain
guidelines to ensure that the official machinery is
in no way engaged in any election related work
by such touring dignitaries.

These have been upheld by the Supreme Court of

India in the case of Narendra Kumar Gaur vs.
Election Commission of India in Writ Petition No.
339 of 1999 on 16.08.99.

A copy of this Hon’ble Commission’s letter dated November 23rd, 2007

as annexed herewith and marked as Annexure – 2.

III.
The Prime Minister has time and again undermined the sanctity of
our electoral laws and the authority of this Hon’ble Commission. No
previous Prime Minister has been so blatantly defiant in his or her
approach to electoral laws designed to prevent misuse of Government
resources in campaigning.

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In light of the abovementioned, we request this Hon’ble Commission
to utilize its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution and pass
immediate directions to the relevant authorities to prevent the Prime
Minister from misusing any of the Government officials or agencies,
including but not limited to the Niti Aayog, for campaign purposes.

Yet again we are constrained to beseech this Commission and remind

it of its constitutional mandate to ensure a level playing field. So far,
this election has recorded the most number of lapses, deliberately and
maliciously, by a sitting Prime Minister in recorded history. What
makes these actions all the more egregious is the complete lack of
action regarding the same by the Hon’ble Commission.

We hope the Commission deems this a matter worth addressing and

treats the matter with the urgency it deserves.

Warm regards,