Trinamul MP Jawhar Sircar has renewed the demand for the Election Commission of India to assert itself by pre-censoring propaganda in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll-time Mann Ki Baat broadcasts.

The Rajya Sabha member has written to chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra: “I would request you to issue instructions to the PMO to take special care to ensure that nothing is said in the address that may, directly or indirectly, remotely or by hint, be construed to be self-publicity and propaganda in favour of his party. We hope the EC will implement its Model Code of Conduct in its true spirit.”

The next Mann Ki Baat broadcast is scheduled for February 27, in the thick of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

In response to similar demands and complaints since 2014, the EC had ruled out pre-censorship of Mann Ki Baat and did not find violations in the announcements made by Modi in these broadcasts. In 2017, the I&B ministry had sought and obtained the EC’s permission to broadcast the show after polls had been declared.

Officials of the Centre and the EC are yet to respond to queries by this newspaper on whether clearance was sought or granted this time. Sircar told The Telegraph that he had not received a reply from Chandra.

Sircar explained: “The EC has gone through a bad patch and 2021 will be a make-or-break election for its reputation. In the interest of the EC and of India, the EC must reassert itself.”