A Supreme Court lawyer has written to the chief election commissioner seeking action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over reported instances of hate speech during the election campaign.

He also tried to remind the Election Commission (EC) that the law doesn’t spare anyone in such matters, irrespective of the position one holds.

Senior lawyer Kaleeswaram Raj on Sunday sent a notice to the chief election commissioner citing several instances of the Prime Minister engaging in hate speech and reminded the EC that Modi enjoys no immunity from the law.

“There is no reason or justification for sparing the Prime Minister, who blatantly violates the code of conduct and the laws of the nation. He shall not have any immunity in such matters and a message that the Prime Minister is above the law should not be conveyed to the nation,” Raj said, citing Article 14 of the Constitution that offers equality before law to everyone.

“Any move to damage the people’s fraternity for electoral gain, that too from the Prime Minister of the country, is only to be deprecated,” the lawyer observed, citing widely reported instances of alleged violation of the code of conduct by the Prime Minister.

Raj cited Modi’s accusation that the Congress would hand over the assets of the wealthy to minorities and that the party would even snatch the mangalsutras of Hindu women to fund welfare schemes for Muslims.

“He (Modi) also alleged that the Congress is supported by the leaders in Pakistan in its race for power in the 2024 elections. On yet another occasion, in the guise of criticising ‘vote jihad’, he made communal imputations and inflammatory speeches. Yet another public statement by the Prime Minister was that the Congress had grabbed the quota meant for the backward sections and assigned them to the Muslims by backdoor means,” Raj stated, alluding to Modi’s insinuations against the Congress.

The lawyer alleged that the accusations and allegations so made are clearly unsubstantiated or distorted and therefore misleading. “The comments are based on religious fanaticism. They are divisive, inflammatory and disparaging. The use of cheap vocabulary to woo the voters is clearly condemnable. Such a venomous campaign by a Prime Minister is quite unprecedented in India,” the lawyer added.

Raj sought adequate and effective action against violations of the code of conduct and noted that he reserved his right to place this issue before the Supreme Court.