Leave ECI out of political squabbles
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: February 29, 2012 -

The Election Commission of India (ECI) entrusted with the task of conducting and ensuring free and fair election to the state assemblies and to the Lok Sabha has been doing a commendable job.

The ECI along with the Vigilance Commission of India (CVC) and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India have, over the years, come to command considerable confidence and respect of the general public as constitutional bodies which can be trusted to do the right thing uninfluenced by favour or inducement of any kind.

The successful conduct of elections in the last 60 years, albeit distortions of various kind, is a reassuring proof that democracy has taken deep roots in the country and is here to stay.

The credit for this goes substantially to the ECI, which has been trying to come up with innovative and effective ways to deal with electoral malpractice.

But this is not to say that all the steps put in place by the ECI have yielded the desired results.

This is primarily because the almost all the parties and candidates contesting elections to the state legislatures and the Parliament, on the one hand, comes up with ingenious ways to bypass the dos and don’ts laid down by the ECI which come into force around 2 months before the election in the form of Model Code of Conduct, and on the other hand, come right down to willfully violating the same.

The most recent example of such blatant disregard for the Model Code of Conduct was witnessed in the run up to the UP election by no less a person than the Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid himself.

Inspite of ECI’s adverse reaction to his promise of a nine percent sub-quota for Muslims out of the 27 percent quota for OBC, the Law Minister showed no signs of retreating and indulged in sophistry, forcing the ECI to take the unprecedented step of writing to the President of India.

The fact that the Congress leadership sought to distance itself from Salman Khurshid’s utterances only when the President forwarded the ECI’s letter to the PMO for appropriate action, reflects poorly on its sincerity to adhere strictly to the Model Code of Conduct.

As if this was not enough, the government sought to make the Model Code of Conduct statutory to act as a deterrent to its violations.

But it is clear that such a step will only give a longer leash to those who indulge in their very violations as they will continue to enjoy all the rights and privileges of an MLA or an MP, in case they get elected, while the cases against them drag on for years in the courts.

Many see such a step as an attempt to weaken the ECI rather than strengthening it. While efforts should be on to find out ways to better enforce the Model Code of Conduct, it is imperative that the political parties respect and abide by it without which it is impossible to have free and fair elections.

It is not our argument that the ECI can make no mistake or do no wrong but imputing motives to its actions besides being unfair would only lead to weakening it further.

The political parties should do well to retrospect on the way they are fighting election which translate roughly into ‘win at all cost, use all means at one’s disposal, fair or foul, rather than casting aspersions on the ECI.