Over a decade back, the Election Commission robbed Assembly and parliamentary elections of its colour and excitement. Flags, buntings, wall paintings, graffiti, posters, colourful processions and a general festival like atmosphere gripped the state going to polls then. A visit to the poll bound states and you came face to face with festive atmosphere of democracy – one in which everyone soaked and enjoyed.
That is no longer the case now. Polls now have practically become a door to door campaign and candidates even refuse to serve tea to the people attending the meeting and going to their houses. They refused to attend corner meetings with seating arrangement as every chair, every mike, tent and even the mats were accounted for and clubbed with the expenditure of the candidate.
What is ironical is that this entire exercise, meant to curb expenditure, check black money and bring in austerity, has become counter productive. Expenditure per serious candidate has multiplied many-fold than the ceiling of Rs 16 lakh, fixed by the EC. The candidates and political parties are much more clever and smart than the babus sitting in Nirvachan Sadan,
In several constituencies, the voters got “gifts” which could range from kitchen utilities and utensils to sports kits, blankets, liquor bottles and whatever the demand was from the “bulk” voters. I know of families in
So the austerity of the EC went for a toss and has no meaning at all as the candidates found new mechanism to circumvent the directions of the election body. Any amount of video recording the activities of candidates would not find how the gifts were distributed and how money changed hands. In
The question is why carry the façade of so called austerity measures and curbing of black money when you simply cannot implement it on the ground. Wouldn’t it be better if new guidelines are evolved in consultation with all political parties to make the elections more colourful as was the case in the past and also prevent extravagance on part of the candidates. Everyone in the country knows that no one would become an MLA for the sake of Rs 75,000 or 1 lakh per month which they get in salary. The stakes for a MLA is obviously much higher – either in terms of social status it brings or the future earning it promises.
Then comes the neutrality of the EC. The constitutional body was made famous by T N Seshan so much so that every child in the country knew the name of Seshan when he was the Chief Election Commissioner in the 1990s. Not that there were no good CECs before that but the way Seshan cracked the whip and earned middle class applause, had never happened before.
But fast forward the Seshan era to 2012 and again in the cloak of neutrality, bias in favour of the ruling party at the Centre has returned back to Nirvachan Sadan, something which was in practice for greater part of the period before Seshan and also later.
I can’t understand how wrapping the statues of elephants in UP in a “neutral” colour could be the part of the mandate of the EC. Why didn’t the EC capture all the elephants in UP and elsewhere and keep it in a special enclosure till the election process got over. Why not wrap the hands of all the people in a cloth as it can be shown as a symbol of the Congress? Also, Lotus is found in ponds everywhere. Couldn’t there be a scientific mechanism to destroy all of them when the model code of conduct is in force as it could inspire people to vote for the BJP. Similarly, sickle and hammer of CPI(M) could have been snatched from all farmers and workers and people riding bicycles banned from the streets as it us the symbol of Samajwadi Party.
EC is supposed to be the “neutral umpire” in elections. But in all the three major poll-bound states, its decisions irked the ruling parties and brought smile on the faces of Congress leaders and workers. Akali Dal-BJP coalition in Punjab protested the way EC went about conducting elections in the state and so did Bahujan Samaj Party and its chief Mayawati in UP and BJP’s General B C Khanduri in Uttarakhand. Shouldn’t it be a matter of introspection for this constitutional body?
But then, Congress wants to perform well in UP as the political stake of Rahul Gandhi is involved. It also wants to return to power in
CEC S Y Qureshi retires in July after completion of 65 years of age. He would obviously be adjusted somewhere in government and could also try his hand in politics like one of his predecessor M S Gill did. As the founding fathers of the Constitution did not put a clause that the outgoing CEC cannot become a MP or a minister after retirement, Gill managed to become a Cabinet minister and a Rajya Sabha MP throwing the cloak of neutrality and suggesting that he must have done something for the ruling party when he was the head of the Election Commission. He set a wrong precedent with the blessings of Congress and if Qureshi eyes for a similar slot, post retirement, it should not be a surprise.
I don’t know Qureshi personally. It was at the annual Monsoon lunch at the residence of Union Minister Salman Khurshid that I introduced myself to him and shook hand though he may not remember it. That was in 2009 when Qureshi was merely an Election Commissioner. The gathering was there to savour the kebabas and mangoes. Qureshi had a mouthful and so did I. At that point of time, I felt Qureshi was out of place there. I was there to meet politicians who turn up, Qureshi, it seemed was there only for networking and Khurshid being an important minister, could help.
If judges of the Supreme Court cannot become MPs and ministers, why should the CECs become one or aspire for political position. It was time this anomaly was rectified. (February 5, 2012)
(The writer is Senior Editor, The Pioneer,
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