Even when opponents lodge formal complaints, the authorities neither respond swiftly nor initiate timely investigations.
Published Nov 13, 2025 | 11:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 13, 2025 | 11:00 AM
Bandi Sanjay Kumar during an election campaign rally in Jubilee Hills.
Synopsis: Even after blatant violations of the poll conduct ahead of the Jubilee Hills by-election, including communal speech by Union MoS Bandi Sanjay, the Election Commission failed to take any action. The lack of any action shows how those in power have grown accustomed to turning a blind eye to corruption and illegality.
The Jubilee Hills by-election in Telangana — fiercely fought among the ruling Congress, the Opposition BRS, and the BJP as the main contenders — is now over. The result will be out on Friday, 14 November.
Whoever wins or loses, this is the right moment to reflect on how this election was conducted, particularly on the nature of the speeches made by political leaders during the campaign, and more broadly, on the illegalities embedded in our electoral system itself.
In the seven and a half decades of India’s parliamentary elections, across the thousands of elections that have taken place, can we find even one instance — just one — where the polls were held without any legal violations or irregularities? That in itself would be a worthwhile subject of investigation.
At the moment, however, it is important to specifically discuss the objectionable and illegal speeches made by certain campaigners during the Jubilee Hills by-election.
No political party or leader — male or female — can claim to be entirely free from such conduct. Yet, in particular, we need to examine the speech made by Bandi Sanjay, BJP leader and Union Minister of State (MoS), at Rahmathnagar on 8 November.
While campaigning for BJP candidate L Deepak Reddy in the Jubilee Hills by-election, instead of seeking votes by highlighting his candidate’s merits, Bandi Sanjay portrayed the election as a war between Hindus and Muslims. He urged all Hindus to vote for the BJP candidate.
However, Section 123(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which governs elections in India, explicitly prohibits soliciting votes on religious grounds. Section 125 of the same Act stipulates that engaging in such “corrupt practices or electoral offences” can lead to a prison term of up to three years.
And yet, let us see what this Union MoS — a person bearing the grave responsibility of enforcing lawful governance — actually said in his speech: “This is a contest between those who wear the molataadu (string around waist, a traditional marker of Hindus) and those who don’t, between those who wear bindis and those who don’t, between those who wear bangles and those who don’t. If you wear a bindi named Durgamma or Lakshmamma, vote for us. Otherwise, vote for them. Congress will turn Jubilee Hills into Khan Begum Nagar — do you want that? If we win, we’ll turn it into Sitaram Nagar. Do you want Khan Begum Nagar or Sitaram Nagar?”
Thus, he openly sought to divide voters on religious lines.
He further insulted BRS leader KT Rama Rao with derogatory references, alleging that he “brought forty thousand burqas from Pakistan.” He also declared, “This is a war between Hindus and Muslims. Will the 80 percent Hindus win, or the 20 percent Turks?”
He went on: “The Congress party stands with the Muslims. The BJP stands with the Hindus. If you want a Hindu Raj in Telangana, all Hindus must unite in Jubilee Hills. We will transform Telangana into a Hindu state. If Congress wins, it will turn Telangana into an Islamic state.”
He accused Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of “wearing a Muslim cap to seek votes,” and claimed that “Congress and MIM (AIMIM) together will loot your gold. If Congress wins, your parks will turn into graveyards and Eid grounds; the streets of Jubilee Hills will flow with Bakrid blood.” These were blatant anti-Muslim and anti-Congress falsehoods.
He even said, “Take twenty thousand rupees from the other candidates, but vote for the BJP candidate!” — a direct violation of the prohibition against monetary inducements laid out in the Representation of the People Act.
For any one of these remarks, the Central or State Election Commission, or even the district election officers, could have immediately acted. Courts could have taken suo motu cognisance and directed registration of cases. Police could have done so on their own.
However, the lack of any action shows how those in power have grown accustomed to turning a blind eye to corruption and illegality — to letting things slide as a matter of habit.
Even when opponents lodge formal complaints, the authorities neither respond swiftly nor initiate timely investigations. By the time they finish “examining” whether the words were in violation or not, the moment has passed.
Or perhaps, instead of weighing things by the rule of law, they’re now using the “Modi-Shah scale,” under which illegality itself turns into legitimacy. When a member of the Union Cabinet indulges so blatantly in violations, and those who allow that offence to go unchecked remain silent — then all of them are complicit in the crime.
Every single statement in that speech was not only illegal and against the Model Code of Conduct, but also crude, hateful, and inciteful — designed to provoke animosity between communities, to instigate one group toward violence against another. Such words are deeply offensive to the values of a modern, civilised society and to democratic traditions.
And it isn’t just Bandi Sanjay’s speech alone. In the past two or three weeks, if one listens to the election speeches of any leader, even Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and the main Opposition leader, KT Rama Rao, have made objectionable, unlawful, and inflammatory remarks.
Over the last seven decades — especially in the past two or three decades — the arrogance of wealth, power, religion, and caste has grown so unchecked that election campaigns and the electoral process as a whole have degenerated into such spectacles.
The Election Commission — a constitutional and statutory institution meant to regulate, correct, and punish — has sunk into terrifying irresponsibility. If it truly had the integrity to enforce electoral law to the letter, it would have had to disqualify everyone who made such remarks, expel them from the electoral process, and move court to seek the punishments prescribed under the Representation of the People Act.
But the Election Commission, which ought to act on its own initiative, has failed to act even on complaints filed by rival parties. It has not shown even a minimal awareness of its constitutional responsibility.
Specifically, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee filed a complaint with the State Chief Electoral Officer, stating that Bandi Sanjay made objectionable remarks against Chief Minister Revanth Reddy at Borabanda on 6 November, and solicited votes on religious grounds on 8 November, incited communal hatred, and urged voters to take money from other parties but vote for the BJP.
The Chief Electoral Officer routinely forwarded the complaint to the district election officer, ordering an inquiry and a report. But in fact, no inquiry was even necessary — the full video of that speech is freely available on YouTube and other social media platforms, circulated widely by thousands of people.
Our election officials are not blind to social media — they see it but choose not to admit it. They seem to have taken Gandhi’s maxim, “See no evil, hear no evil,” quite literally. Or, perhaps knowing everything in full detail, the Chief Electoral Officer deliberately diluted the matter by starting an endless chain of lower-level inquiries and report-seeking, thus burying the issue in procedure.
Where the law mandates strict punishment, they have not even issued a mild reprimand or censure.
Similarly, the BRS lodged a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer alleging that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy made promises to film industry workers during a campaign meeting — an act of misuse of power and a violation of the election code, since making promises to a specific group during a campaign is prohibited. No action was taken on that complaint either.
Likewise, campaign speeches by KT Rama Rao and other BRS leaders have clearly violated provisions of the Representation of the People Act and the Model Code of Conduct — their speeches are printed in newspapers and circulated on social media — but it’s unclear whether any complaint was filed or any action taken, since no news reports mention any.
Does this mean our election officials and government authorities are unaware of what the Representation of the People Act and the Model Code of Conduct actually contain?
The Representation of the People Act, 1951, was enacted to ensure that elections in India are conducted freely and fairly. One chapter titled “Corrupt Practices” lists numerous prohibitions — against exploiting differences of caste, religion, region, race, community, or language for electoral advantage; against inciting hatred among such groups; against offering money, liquor, or material inducements, and many more. These are declared punishable offences because they undermine the integrity of the electoral process.
To prevent such undesirable tendencies and to impose behavioural restrictions on candidates, parties, and campaigners, the Model Code of Conduct was devised. Based on these two frameworks, the Election Commission, as a constitutional body, was established to ensure that the electoral process runs lawfully and smoothly.
In practice, however, candidates, parties, and campaigners blatantly, openly, and repeatedly violate both the Representation of the People Act and the Model Code of Conduct — and the Election Commission does nothing. On the contrary, through its silence, inaction, and indifference, it allows these wrongful tendencies to continue unchecked.
There are hundreds — perhaps thousands — of such examples across the country over the past seven decades. The ongoing Jubilee Hills by-election is just one more addition to that endless list.
Indeed, the Election Commission, already a haven of illegality, has now been turned by Modi into his personal pocket institution. The last shreds of its dignity have been stripped away, leaving it utterly exposed.
Like in the old fable, even a child can now see that “the emperor has no clothes.” But our so-called intellectuals and thinkers — those who can speak and write — still fail to acknowledge it. They continue to deliver sermons on the “sanctity” of India’s parliamentary elections!
(Views are personal. Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
