New Delhi: With the Lok Sabha poll season in top gear, the Election Commission finds itself courting an allegation often lobbed its way by the opposition during the Narendra Modi government’s tenure: That it is delaying the announcement of election dates for the benefit of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
However, the allegation holds no water yet as the Election Commission is well within schedule.
The watchdog is expected to announce the dates any time this week, with the return Tuesday of the Election Commission team sent to Jammu & Kashmir to analyse whether the situation was conducive to polls.
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‘Not late at all’
The poll body has to announce the election dates in a way that the entire process, including issuing the notification (when candidates can start filing nominations), campaigning, voting, counting and declaration of results, can be concluded before the term of the incumbent Lok Sabha — or the state assembly, as the case may be — expires.
The tenure of the 16th Lok Sabha is set to expire on 3 June, which means the commission will have to ensure that the succeeding MPs are ready to take office by this date.
“I don’t think the commission will be late in announcing the dates if the announcement is made on any day before 15 March,” said former chief election commissioner O.P. Rawat.
“There is no deadline by which the commission is bound to announce the polls…Even now, they have just come back from Jammu and Kashmir, so they are doing their job thoroughly,” Rawat added.
“It is more important for the commission to do its due diligence before the announcement… Rest is all speculation,” he said. “Even if they announce the elections a little later, they can always reduce the time gap between the announcement and notification.”
According to an office memorandum issued by the Union Law Ministry in 2001, the election notification should be issued within three weeks of the announcement of dates.
Another former chief election commissioner, Navin Chawla, agreed.
“The Election Commission is bound to complete the whole process by the date of expiry of the Lok Sabha’s term… When exactly it announces the dates is its prerogative, depending on several considerations.”
The 2009 and 2014 elections were announced on 2 and 5 March, respectively, with the votes counted on 16 May both years.
Past elections and controversies
Over the past few years, the opposition has criticised the Election Commission for allegedly scheduling poll-date announcements in a way that the BJP, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is given an opportunity to announce pre-poll “sops”.
In 2017, a controversy erupted when the Election Commission only announced the date of the Himachal Pradesh assemby election, though it was to be held simultaneously with the Gujarat election.
While the Election Commission cited relief and rehabilitation work for floods in north Gujarat as the reason for the delay, the opposition pointed to multiple sops announced by the BJP in the 13 days before the state election dates were declared.
Last year, the Congress made similar allegations when the Election Commission, at the last minute, deferred a press conference for the announcement of assembly election dates for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and Telangana by a few hours.
The Congress pointed out that the delay just happened to accommodate Modi’s rally in Ajmer.
On Monday, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel reiterated the charge, asking in a tweet if the poll body was not announcing the dates for the 2019 general elections because it was waiting for the Prime Minister’s “official” travel programme to conclude.
Is the Election Commission waiting for the Prime Minister’s “official” travel programs to conclude before announcing dates for General Elections?
— Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) March 4, 2019
Using govt functions as an excuse for political rallies, flooding TV/radio and print with political ads,
It is seems that EC is giving the government a long rope to campaign till the last moment using public money
— Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) March 4, 2019
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One, the ECI should ensure a level playing field for all participants. Second, it should be seen by all of them to be fair, not give them an occasion to allege that it is being partial. By both these criteria, it ought to have brought the Code of Conduct into force in very good time, to be followed fifteen or twenty days later by the notification.