New Delhi: The Election Commission will try to ensure that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, apart from being peaceful, “also see less noise, less clutter and everyone gets equal opportunity”, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said on National Voters Day.
Speaking in New Delhi, Kumar said Thursday: “That’s what our job is… to provide a level playing field.”
The CEC’s comments came in the backdrop of opposition parties questioning the poll watchdog’s impartiality. Saying that the bar of political discourse must be kept high, Kumar added, “At this stage, political parties being the biggest stakeholders, must become the best partners, ensuring an ethical journey.” He added, “The commission has issued an advisory also to arrest the plummeting level of the political discourse.”
Amidst Congress’s criticism after the poll body allegedly did not meet a delegation of the INDIA bloc demanding greater use of VVPATs, the CEC said political parties were the second largest stakeholders after voters.
“Whatever we do, we disclose to political parties. Whatever we do, we involve political parties at every stage, starting from preparations of electoral rolls to the voting to EVM machines. We respond whenever there is a letter or an issue raised by a political party,” he said.
Election Commissioner Arun Goel quoted the Vedas to emphasise that India was the world’s oldest and largest democracy. “While we are the world’s largest modern democracy, historically, we are the oldest. In the Rigveda and Atharvaveda, dating 6000 BC to 1100 BC, the term sabha or assembly of elders; samiti or the assembly of the common folk; and Sansad or Parliament — each representative body finds frequent mention,” he said.
He added, “Rigveda sukta says, ‘Come together, speak together, together let the thoughts agree. Common to all is a solemn utterance… Common the assembly… common the thought along the perception’.”
Goel lauded the role of his predecessors since 1950 for “demystifying the electoral steps and creating simple, administratively manageable and publicly verifiable processes”.
He added the commission has kept pace with Indian polity and the times “to weed out electoral malpractices and systematically ushering technology to bring the voter participation ever closer to the citizens”.
The National Voters Day 2024’s theme was, “Nothing Like Voting, I Vote For Sure”, which was a continuation of last year’s theme.
Several commission officials, including state and district level officers, were also awarded at the function Thursday for their “outstanding performance” for polls held during 2023. The categories were IT initiatives, security management, election management, accessible election, electoral roll and contribution in the field of voter awareness.
A short voter awareness film directed by filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, My Vote My Duty, was shown and a postage stamp was also released during the event. In addition, a multimedia campaign for voter awareness was also launched with the tagline “Chunav ka parv, desh ka garv (The festival of elections is the pride of the nation).”