Organisations in a fix over cancellation of events

Literary, cultural programmes too affected due to poll code

 Several literary and cultural organisations, which had planned several programmes in the district for the month, have been hit by the model code of conduct, declared ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April.

While permission to organise some programmes have been denied since the announcement, permission given to for some programmes are being cancelled in the last minute, resulting in loss to the organisers.

For instance, Nagamangala Taluk Kannada Sahitya Sammelana was scheduled to be held on March 8 and 9. Invitations for the programme had already been dispatched, when the code of conduct was enforced on March 5.

The organisers had approached the election wing of the District Administration, seeking permission to go ahead with the scheduled programme. The organisers, who had continued their preparations for the Sammelana, were in for a shock, when they were denied permission to hold the meet.

On March 7, when they approached the Deputy Commissioner regarding the issue, he said, that a letter to the Election Commission authorities regarding the Sammelana had been dispatched, awaiting a reply. Several conditions were also put forth to organise the programme by the District Administration.

However, with no clear go ahead for the event, it was cancelled on March 7 around 9 pm.
President of Nagamangala taluk unit of the Parishat, Mohan Kumar, said, the organisers had to face a lot of inconvenience, as the programme was cancelled at the last moment.
Another incident occurred on March 8, during the International Women’s Day celebrations, organised by the department of Women and Child Welfare, along with several other organisations.

An exhibition of products by women self help groups was also planned. However, instructions were sent to the organisers to cancel the meet at 10 am on March 8.

Others

Several other programmes have also been cancelled on the pretext of code of conduct. Election officials are only issuing oral instructions to various organisations. Cultural and literary organisations have demanded the election authorities to issue clear instructions on the do’s and don’ts as long as the code of conduct is in place, so that programmes might not be cancelled at the last moment.