After TMC complaint, EC orders removal of PM Modi’s image from COVID vaccine certificates

Flagging it as a violation of the model code of conduct, the Election Commission (EC) on Friday asked the Central government to remove the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from COVID vaccination certificates in four poll-bound states and one Union territory. The EC’s order came a week after a complaint by the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

The EC wrote to the Health Ministry highlighting its standing instructions against promoting the ruling party through government means when the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in force. The point of MCC is to ensure a level playing field and PM's photos go against that as it can count as undue publicity, it noted. 

The Ministry was instructed to make the changes in the COVID vaccination certificates being distributed in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, which are headed for Assembly polls.

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The Union Health Ministry had earlier informed the poll panel that the vaccination drive was an ongoing government initiative that started much before the MCC came into force. To comply with the election Commission's direction, the Ministry will now have to introduce a filter in its software to mask PM’s picture on the certificate.

The EC, has in the past, forbidden the use of the Prime Minister's photograph on posters and official websites of government schemes when the MCC was in force. During the 2017 elections in Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh, the Commission had directed the Cabinet Secretary to remove images of PM Modi and the then Urban Development Minister from the official website of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

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TMC demands removal of PM's photo

The TMC had approached the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer last week to complain against the use of PM’s photo, calling it a “blatant misuse of official machinery”. 

TMC MP Derek O’Brien said PM Modi is "debarred from publicising his name through the government’s Co-WIN platform of vaccination" after the announcement of elections. He urged the EC to stop the PM from "taking unfair advantages and undue publicity at taxpayer’s cost during the conduct of elections".

The party is up in arms with the Modi-led BJP in the eight-phase assembly elections in West Bengal starting 27 March. Election dates in the state were announced last week, at which point the model code of conduct came into force.

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