EC under Opposition fire over delay in announcing election dates

With election to the 17th Lok Sabha drawing closer, the Congress has questioned the Election Commission for not announcing the poll dates. Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel, in a tweet on Monday, asked if the Election Commission was waiting for the Prime Minister’s “official travel programmes to conclude before announcing dates” for the general elections.

While the members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected in the 2014 general elections held between April 7 and May 12 of that year, the Modi-led NDA government took office on May 26, 2014. The term of the current Lok Sabha ends on June 3.

Earlier on Friday, when asked about the election schedule in the wake of tensions between India and Pakistan, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora told mediapersons that general elections in the country will be held on time.

The opposition, however, is worried that the Election Commission seems to be giving the Narendra Modi-led NDA government a “long rope to campaign till the last moment” to announce pre-poll sops.

The criticism comes in the backdrop of a similar delay in announcing poll dates for Gujarat Assembly elections in 2017, which according to the opposition, was exploited by the ruling BJP in the state as well as the Centre to inaugurate projects worth thousands of crores of rupees.

During the Gujarat polls, there was a delay in the announcement of dates by close to two weeks after the poll panel declared schedule for the Himachal Pradesh elections. Conventionally, polls in states are clubbed when their assemblies are expiring close to each other. The terms of both the assemblies — Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh — were coming to an end in January 2018.

While the model code of conduct — which bars the government from announcing any new schemes or projects — comes into effect the moment the EC announces poll dates, the then CEC AK Joti had justified his decision at the time by saying that the model code would have hampered the state’s flood relief efforts.

Controversy broke out over the CEC’s alleged partial behaviour, especially as many officials working in flood-hit areas said that most of the relief work was completed weeks ago.

Even former CECs TS Krishnamurthy, S Y Quraishi, H S Brahma had agreed that ongoing projects, including flood relief, are allowed to proceed unobstructed even after the imposition of the model code of conduct.

According to Quraishi, the decision of the EC created a “ground of suspicion” as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to visit his home state the following week. “The EC’s decision also went against the spirit of simultaneous polls,” he was quoted by The Hindu in a report.

What happened in previous elections

Going by India’s recent electoral history, the EC usually announces the election dates by the end of first week of March.

1999

On April 17 that year, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee narrowly lost a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha and had to step down, bringing an end to the coalition government. While the main opposition Congress could not cobble up support to form a majority government, the Lok Sabha dissolved and fresh elections were called. While general elections were held in 1996 and 1998, the 1999 elections were the third in 40 months. The poll schedule was declared on May 4. While the elections were held in two phases on September 5 and October 3, the counting of votes took place on October 6.

2004

The then BJP-led NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had advanced the polls by six months.The EC announced the poll schedule on February 29 (it was a Leap year). The elections were held in four phases from April 20 till May 10. The counting of votes were held on May 13.

2009

The EC announced the poll schedule on March 2. Elections were held in five phases between April 16 and May 13. The counting of votes took place on May 16.

2014

The poll dates were out on March 5. The election was held in nine phases between April 7 and May 12. The counting of votes was held on May 16.

While the NDA government was sworn in on May 26, the term of the 16th Lok Sabha expires on June 3, as the first session was convened from June 4 to June 11, 2014.

Going by that trend, the EC was expected to announce the schedule of Lok Sabha elections 2019 in the first week of March.

Projects, schemes launched

Even if the EC were to announce the dates tomorrow, the government will not be able to announce any new schemes or projects once the model code of conduct comes into the force. Interestingly, the prime minister is expected to be in Chennai in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday. On Friday, he is scheduled to visit Ghaziabad, Kanpur and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to lay the foundation stones for a Rapid Rail Transit System and the Kanpur Metro.

On Tuesday, the second day of Modi’s visit to his home state Gujarat,  the Prime Minister was present at the National Launching Ceremony of Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Pension Yojana (PM-SYM Scheme 2019, through the online fund transfer to beneficiaries) for unorganised workers in Ahmedabad.

He will also distribute the PM-SYM pension cards to select beneficiaries.

From Gujarat, the PM Modi will head to Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar to address a mega-rally of tribals.

On Monday, Modi was in Jamnagar (Gujarat)  to inaugurate a hospital. He also launched an irrigation project andllaid the foundation stone of a water desalination plant. Later in the day, he flaged off the first phase of a metro rail project and presided over a ceremony related to a temple complex in Ahmedabad.

On Sunday, the prime minister was in Amethi — Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s constituency — to launch a Kalashnikov rifle manufacturing unit. A joint venture between India’s Ordnance Factory and a Russian firm, Indo-Russia Rifles Pvt Ltd will produce the last series of Kalashnikov rifles. He also announced projects to the tune of Rs 538 crore.

On March 1, the prime minister launched various roads and rail projects at Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and flagged off the Tejas Express between Madurai and Chennai.

The BJP-led NDA came to power in 2014 with a landslide victory, winning 336 seats. While the BJP alone won 282 seats, the Congress bagged only 45. As the first term of Modi government is coming to an end, opinion polls and surveys, conducted in earlier in the year, suggested the NDA may fail to repeat its 2014 victory in coming Lok Sabha elections and fall short of clear majority.

According to the surveys, the BJP may not be able to cross the half-way mark on its own in Parliament even though the prime minister’s personal popularity remains high. The scenario, however, is likely to change in the aftermath of the IAF airstrikes.