8 objections to AAP campaign song ‘jail ka jawab vote se’ raised by Delhi election office

The office of Delhi’s chief electoral officer on Sunday rejected the Aam Aadmi Party’s claim that the Election Commission has “banned” its Lok Sabha campaign song “Jail Ka Jawab, Vote Se Denge”, calling it “factually incorrect and misleading”. The poll body clarified that the AAP was asked to modify the contents of the song since it violated EC’s guidelines and advertising codes.

In a statement, the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) said the party was also informed that it can file an appeal before the state-level Media Certification and Monitoring Committee if it does not agree with the decision.

The over two-minute campaign song, penned and sung by AAP MLA Dilip Pandey, was released at the party headquarters on Thursday.

AAP senior leader Atishi asserted that the campaign song does not mention the BJP and does not violate the Model Code of Conduct.

“It includes factual videos and incidents, whether it is the picture of Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, whether it is the video of police’s misbehaviour with Manish Sisodia in the Rouse Avenue Court, whether it is the brutal detention of our volunteers in protests, everything is factual,” she said at a press conference.

Here are the eight objections raised by the Delhi poll body:

1. The phrase “jail ke jawaab me hum vote denge” shows an aggressive mob holding the photo of CM Arvind Kejriwal showing him behind bars. The pre-certification committee in the office of the Delhi CEO said this “casts aspersions on the judiciary.” It also said the phrase appears several times in the advertisement which contravenes the provisions of ECI Guidelines dated August 24, 2023 and Rule 6(1)(g) of Programme and Advertising Codes prescribed under the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994.

2. The second objection is that the phrase ‘Tanashahi party ko hum chot denge’ along with the clip showing the protesters and police clash “apparently incites violence.”

3. The phrases ‘gundagardi ke khilaf vote denge’ and’tanashahi karne wali party ko hum chot denge” used with the clip showing jailed AAP leader Manish Sisodia being escorted by the police tend to “present the picture of police in bad taste” and, thus, “casts aspersions on the working of…the police”, the Delhi CEO said.

4. The committee has flagged the phase “Awazein khilaf thi jo sabko jail me daal dia, has unko hi bahar rakha jisne inko maal dia. Itna lalach, itna nafrat, bhrastachari se mohabbat” as slanderous remarks. “It is a criticism of the ruling party on the basis of “unverified facts and also casts aspersion on the judiciary.”

5. It also flagged the use of the phrase “Gundo wali party chodo” shown with pictures of other political party leaders along with their party symbol as “slanderous remarks addressed to the other party and their leader.”

6. The phrase “Tanashahi party ko hum chot denge” with the clip showing aggressive mob clashing with the police shows criticism of the ruling party on the basis of unverified facts. It added that the phrase is repeated several times in the song “which is objectionable.”

7. The phrase “Jail ka jawaab hum vote se denge” used for 10 seconds in the end is missing from the submitted transcript.

8. The committee said the phrase ‘Jail ka jawaab hum vote se denge’, ‘gunda gardi ke khilaf vote denge’ and ‘Tanashahi harne wali party ko hum chot denge’ contravenes the provisions of pars 2.5 (d) of ECI Guidelines dated 24.08.2023 and rule 6(1)(g) of Programme and Advertising Codes prescribed under the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994.

The committee, in a letter dated April 27, advised the AAP to modify the two-minute song and video accordingly. It is not clear why the letter was sent two days after the song was released. HT has reached out to AAP for more details on when the song was submitted to the Delhi CEO for approval.