Effect of Hate Speech on Indian Elections

Hate speech can be in simple language defined as "public speech that

expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on
something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation".

Still, “Hate speech” currently has no specific legal definition, although the
Law Commission has been tasked by the Supreme Court to do just that.
There are several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that pertain to hate
speech, including:

 153(A)—statements aimed at creating enmity related to communal,

racial, linguistic, ethnic and descent;
 153(B)—statements against sovereignty;
 295(A)—statements aimed at hurting religious feelings;
 505(2)—statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will
between classes; and
 Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act—promoting enmity
between classes in connection with elections.

Moving to Indian elections, we often see political parties violating their oath
given to ECI at the time of registration. Each political party, at the time of
registration, has to provide a self-sworn oath to the Election Commission,
declaring that the party will adhere to the principles of “socialism, secularism
and democracy”.
A party must provide a copy of memorandum of rules, which should contain a
specific provision—drawn from Representation of the People Act, 1951—that
says “….and such memorandum or rules and regulations shall contain a
specific provision that the association or body shall bear true faith and
allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, and to the
principles of socialism, secularism and democracy, and would uphold the
sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.”
By giving tickets to candidates with “hate-speech” cases, political parties in a
way violate their self-sworn oath to the EC.

BJP has given tickets to the greatest number of candidates with “hate-
speech” cases
As many as 399 candidates with “hate-speech” cases have been fielded by
political parties in various parliamentary and state assembly elections over
the last 12 years. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leads the list with 97
candidates.

Candidates with hate-speech cases against them were and have been three
times more successful in elections compared to those without a criminal
record, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of self-disclosed crime records of
candidates who have contested various elections nationwide over the past
12 years.

To put this data in perspective, over the past 12 years, 10% of candidates
with no criminal cases won elections, while the figure was 20% for
candidates with criminal cases of any kind.
As many as 70 members of parliament and members of legislative assemblies
have hate-speech cases pending against them, according to their own
disclosures to the Election Commission of India.

A season of hate speeches by politicians—including union ministers, MPs,

and MLAs—is underway across India, riven by inflamed, opposing views on
nationalism and free speech. Some examples are:

1) Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti – Minister of State for food processing industries

“.. You must decide whether you want a govt. of those born of
Ram or of those born illegitimately..”

2) Ram Shankar Katheria – Minister of State for Human Resource

Development

“.. if the cases aren’t withdrawn, Agra will witness a different kind of
Holi..”
3) Sakshi Maharaj – Bharatiya Janta Party

“.. The concept of four wives and forty children just won’t work in
India but it is high time that every Hindu woman must produce at
least four children to protect Hindu religion..”

4) Yogi Adityanath – CM of UP; Bharatiya Janta Party

“.. if they take one Hindu girl, we will take 100 muslim girls..”

5) Anant Kumar Hegde – Bharatiya Janta Party

“.. peace and Islam are just opposite words…

as long as there is Islam in this world, there will be terrorism ..”
6) Asaduddin Owaisi – All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen

“Remember we are Muslims..Muslims and fear can’t coexist…

either fear will survive or Muslims, we will survive no need to
worry… we got away from Allah then Allah sent you dogs after us
so that we return to him ..”

7) Azam Khan – Samajwadi Party

“.. his (Narendra Modi) hands are coloured with blood of innocent
people, and you should never let any such person rule the country..”

8) Kailash Choudhary – Bharatiya Janta Party

“.. Rahul Gandhi is a traitor who should be hanged and shot..”

People who use hate speech to create chaos, every one of them getting evicted
still seems a dream but the law and order has started taking some action on
these people.

The Supreme Court has engaged extensively with the question of whether
caste and communal appeals can be made by candidates during elections. In
the context of hate speech in election campaigns, the Court has delivered two
prominent decisions—collectively known as the ‘Hindutva’ judgments, that
appear to narrowly construe the factors leading to disqualification under
Section 123(3A) of the RP Act.

One example that can be quoted is of Jitendra Narayan Tyagi who was
detained by Uttarakhand police on 13th January 2022 for making objectionable
and inflammatory statements against Islam during the ‘Dharam Sansad’ or
religious assembly held in Haridwar. Two more examples of this can be:

 In Ramesh Yashwant Prabhoo v P.R. Kunte, 1995, the Supreme Court

upheld the disqualification of a Shiv Sena candidate who made
derogatory references to Muslims while contesting Assembly Elections in
Mumbai. However, the Court said that mere references to religion in
election campaigns, including the use of the word ‘Hindutva’, would not
constitute a violation of Section 123(3A).
 The Court in Manohar Joshi v Nitin Bhaurao Patil, 1996 held that a
political candidate saying that a Hindu state would be established in his
campaign did not violate Section 123(3A), as it merely represented a
‘hope’.

Some images are given below to elaborate on the topic!

The Trinamool Congress
(TMC) has been hitting out
at PM Modi with the
'Chowkidar Chor Hai'
slogan!
Sources – For information:
The Wire – https://thewire.in/communalism/hate-speech-accused-3-times-
more-successful-in-elections
Supreme Court Observer – https://www.scobserver.in/journal/the-supreme-
court-on-hate-speech-in-elections/
India Today - https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/haridwar-dharam-
sansad-case-wasim-rizvi-detained-arrested-hate-speech-uttarakhand-police-
1899730-2022-01-13

For Posters:
India Today -
https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/kolkata-parties-
scramble-to-grab-voter-eyeballs-with-writings-on-walls-see-pics-1492647-
2019-04-03