Expected to announce assembly elections dates for states including Rajasthan, EC pushes conference to 3 pm.
New Delhi: Less than an hour after the Election Commission of India scheduled a full commission press conference for 12.30 pm Friday, the event was postponed to 3 pm even as the Congress alleged that the delay happened due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Ajmer at 1 pm.
In the press briefing to be held shortly, the EC is expected to announce the dates of the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and also Telangana.
However, the inexplicable change in the timing of the presser led the Congress, which has in the recent past made serious allegations over the poll panel’s independence, to say that the rescheduling was to accommodate Modi’s Ajmer rally.
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Model code of conduct
“The Election Commission seems to be accommodating the PM and the BJP’s interests,” said Vivek Tankha, Congress MP from the Rajya Sabha.
“If the EC would have announced the dates at 12.30, the PM would not have had state support for his rally because the Model Code of Conduct would’ve kicked in,” added Tankha.
The model code of conduct (MCC) — a set of rules determining the conduct of parties and governments in the run-up to an election — will be in place in the states as soon as the dates of the polls are announced by Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat.
Post the dates announcement, no new schemes can be announced by the government.
Soon after the EC rescheduled the presser, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala too to Twitter.
“3 Facts- Draw your own conclusions. 1. ECI announces a PC at 12.30 today to announce election dates to the 5 states. 2. PM Modi is addressing a rally in Ajmer, Rajasthan at 1 PM today. 3. ECI suddenly changes the time of announcement and PC to 3 PM. Independence of ECI?” he said.
3 Facts- Draw your own conclusions.
1. ECI announces a PC at 12.30 today to announce elction dates to the 5 states.
2. PM Modi is addressing a rally in Ajmer, Rajasthan at 1 PM today.
3. ECI suddenly changes the time of announcement and PC to 3 PM.
Independence of ECI?
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) October 6, 2018
Past allegations
This is not the first instance of allegations that the EC was working under pressure from the government.
Last year, in a departure from the usual practice of simultaneously announcing poll dates for two or more states that are going to the polls within a few months of each other, the EC announced dates for Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, but not for the BJP-ruled Gujarat.
Even then, the Prime Minister had a rally scheduled in the state of Gujarat a few days after the poll dates were to be announced.
Surjewala had at the time tweeted, “Modi Government appears to be putting pressure on EC to defer announcement of Gujarat election along with Himachal, to suit its political ends. Reason is that PM is visiting Gujarat on 16th Oct as a false Santa Claus to announce soaps & jumlas that he didn’t implement for 22 yrs.”
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