NEW DELHIFew days before polling began for the Lok Sabha election in early April, Harpreet Mansukhani, a Non-Resident Indian, filed a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking strict action against political parties if their functionaries give communal or casteist speeches during the election campaign.

In her petition, Mansukhani expressed concern that if communal speeches or casteist remarks were allowed to have any sway in the campaign, they would polarise communities and vitiate the whole process of conducting elections. She also pointed out that in the digital world statements made by politicians not only affect election in one constituency but across the country.

Thus, she requested the court to direct the Election Commission (EC) to take strict actions against political parties if their representatives deliver speeches and make remarks pertaining to religion or caste in media or in political rallies.

The court took the matter seriously and asked the election commission for its response.

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A closer look at the commissions actions in the Apex court and outside of it over the course of the following month and a half of the bitterly contested election, shows why it has been widely criticised for failing to act as a neutral institution.