Poll panel questionable actions a serious dent on credibility of institution

From WhatsApp to Twitter, every social media platform was used to spread fake news, from God to Godse every non-issue became a serious issue, from Pulwama to Balakot, and region to religion, nothing is left for electoral exploitation by ruling party.  It was difficult for the Opposition to cope with the variety of strategies adopted by the BJP, with the support of majority media, Election Commissioners and the entire administration across the country.

After facing enormous criticism of being partisan and facilitative towards the ruling party, the Election Commission has ultimately used ‘extraordinary’ power to curtail the campaign time in West Bengal state in the last phase of elections while allowing the Varanasi BJP candidate—Prime Minister Modi to storm social media with photos of his saffron-robed self at Kedarnath as a meditating yogi, which is far beyond campaign hours, and continuing through out polling time.

The EC suddenly remembers Article 342, which is an omnibus general power meant to be used only to conduct fair and free polls, which says: “Superintendence, direction and control of elections to be vested in an Election Commission: (1) The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State and of elections to the offices of President and Vice President held under this Constitution shall be vested in a Commission (referred to in this Constitution as the Election Commission)

The Supreme Court in Mohinder Singh Gill v CEC (December 2, 1977) said: “… Article 324 is a reservoir of power to act for the avowed purpose of not divorced from, pushing forward a free and fair election with expedition.”  This plenary power is for maintaining neutrality, equality and objective actions.

SC asks EC to act

The unique privilege of this Constitutional body is that it is immune from judicial interference once the poll process begins. But this time, the Supreme Court was compelled to goad the Election Commission to act on piled up complaints of breach of MCC against the Prime Minister himself and dozens of BJP leaders, in a writ petition by opposition parties. Once again, the apex court intervened and fixed a time limit for EC to act on complaints against PM. Then the EC unhesitatingly chose to give a clean chit to the PM.

Partisan use of power

In West Bengal, the question was that when deteriorating law and order is the cause for such an action, why should the ban start after 24 hours? If violence on May 14 was so severe that it caught the attention of the EC, then why should the heated and violent campaign continue for another day? No answer is left with the EC for the criticism that it was because Prime Minister’s rallies were scheduled.

There are many contestants in the constituencies going to polls in the last phase in the state. If BJP and TMC hooligans caused the law and order breach, why should other parties and independents not campaign? The EC should have disqualified both BJP and TMC leaders from campaigning, after an objective and impartial assessment of situation.

This action means that both the ruling parties–BJP and TMC–were allowed another 24 hours of free time just to accommodate the Prime Minister’s rallies and to prevent all parties thereafter from campaigning. Other contestants suffer because of the ban for no fault of theirs. The PM even uses the vandalisation of Ishwar Chandra Vidhyasagar’s idol by promising a larger statue for him. Other than this ban, there is no action against culprits for disrupting the process with corrupt practices.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerji alleged that the EC has turned a blind eye to poll process vitiations in places like Gujarat and Haryana, where the BJP is in power. “This is an emergency situation because of the Election Commission’s decisions…But these are not the EC’s decisions, these are Modi-Shah’s decisions,” Mamata said. She pointed out that BJP-supported groups vandalized Vidyasagar’s bust while the BJP blamed the TMC. The EC did not bother to find hooligans of which party did it.

Transfer of officials

The EC this time was blamed for election-related, biased transfers of officials. The officers including Chief Secretary and DGP were transferred in Andhra Pradesh, where Chandrababu Naidu is bitterly fighting him, while in similar circumstances none was shifted in Tamil Nadu.

Decency and dissent

Decency and dissent were casualties in the EC administration. While two went on spree of giving clean chits to the PM, the lone dissenter was not even known to the people. Election commissioner Ashok Lavasa showed guts to dissent and to keep away from meetings, which might not serve any purpose as his dissent was not recorded. The other two commissioners did not find anything wrong in Modi’s speech at Chitradurga on April 9 which was similar to his Latur speech where he used Balakot air strike for political purposes. The Osmanabad district election officer objected to his provocative speech. The EC overruled it saying PM did not seek vote for either his party or himself in this speech.

How the EC was blatantly wrong can be seen by examining the PM’s speech, saying, “I want to tell my first-time voters: Can your first vote be dedicated to the brave soldiers who carried out the air strike in Balakot in Pakistan? I want to tell my first-time voters: Can your first vote be dedicated to the braves martyred in Pulwama?…you are now 18 years old, and the country has given you a great deal…so your first vote should be for the nation… give your first vote to make a strong government, and I say to first time voters you will be able to say with pride, if you press the  button on the lotus, or on the bow and arrow, then your vote is going directly into Modi’s account.” The EC has deliberately blinded itself to his direct appeal to press button to lotus symbol.

The most important norm of MCC being violated every day is rule no. 1, which is, “No party or candidate shall indulge in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic.” The Representation of People Act codified it as an offence also. The PM says, “I am Hindu, Rahul Gandhi is for Muslims. You are Hindus, vote for me.” Perhaps the EC is another vibrant Chowkidar who can’t notice the following list of violations:

-Launching of NaMo TV in the name of Prime Minister Modi. NaMo TV indulging in campaign even after the 5pm deadline to stop campaign.

-Maneka Gandhi and others appealing to voters raking up communal differences, asking them to vote for a particular religion or against some.

-Addressing voters as caste groups and indulging in caste dissensions, which is a breach of Rule 3: There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. Mosques, churches, temples or other places of worship shall not be used as forum for election propaganda.

-Extensively using religion and names of gods or religious books to influence voters.

-Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath calling Indian Army Modi Sena repeatedly.

-Using Pulwama violence to provoke communal outrage.

-The PM using the relations with Pakistan for raking up emotions.

-The PM on March 27 announcing the launch of anti-satellite weapons through ISRO in the middle of election campaign. This is “serious breach of propriety [which] amounts to giving unfair publicity to the party in power”.

-On April 1, in his speech in Wardha, Maharashtra, PM Modi exhorted voters to defeat the Congress because the party, according to him, had hurt Hindus by “coining the term Hindu terror”.

-Spreading lies, breaking fake news, using WhatsApp to spread morphed videos and pictures of rival political parties.

-Bribing and intimidating voters.

-Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh appealing the people to make Modi Prime Minister again. He should be removed for this grave misdemeanour.

-Allowing propaganda web series titled “Modi: A Common Man’s Journey”.

While the BJP strategically used religion to divide and polarise voters, the gathbandhan (alliance) in Uttar Pradesh tried to unite different castes and Muslims. The EC failed to checkmate the ruling party from using international incidents involving defence forces. The noise of these emotional issues was so high that the jobs, poverty, inflation and GST related issues went unheard of. We do not know whether surgical strikes affected enemy but surely the democracy is hurt.

The EC has forgotten those days of independence under individuals like Sheshan and Lyngdo. Its inaction and questionable actions have seriously dented the institutional credibility and federal polity of the nation.

(The writer is a former Information Commissioner and professor at Bennett University)