Holding elections on time constitutional obligation: JD(U) tells Opposition

Bihar's ruling JD(U) on Thursday dismissed the charge that it was insistent on holding assembly polls in time "at the cost of peoples’ lives" amid the raging Covid-19 pandemic, but said conducting elections timely is a constitutional obligation and the Election Commission must take "an independent call".

State minister and senior JD(U) leader Ashok Choudhary also said "Bihar would not be the only place" to conduct polls during the global crisis if the state elections were held in October-November when they are due.

He cited conduct of general elections in South Korea and Singapore recently, and the upcoming presidential election in the US in November.

"For us, peoples’ lives and health are paramount. But, holding elections on time is also a constitutional obligation on which the EC shall take an independent call.

"We hope that the Commission will come out with guidelines for protecting the voters and all others involved in the electoral exercise, whenever it chooses to conduct them", Choudhary said here.

The minister was addressing a webinar organised by an NGO, Heal India Foundation, on how the state was tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It is not that Bihar is going to be the only place where an election will take place during the Covid-19 crisis. General elections were held recently in South Korea and Singapore. Besides, the US is going to have its presidential elections in November", he pointed out.

"It is not that we are saying that elections must be held on time because we wish it to be so. We are mindful of the fact that holding elections when the term of an elected House ends is a constitutional obligation. There may be others who want these to be postponed. We would prefer to leave the decision to the EC", he said.

Choudhary, considered close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, was responding to a query from senior journalist and former Director-General of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) K G Suresh about the feasibility of holding elections at a time when the pandemic is raging.

Opposition parties like the RJD and the Congress have been vehemently demanding postponement of the election and even NDA allies like LJP, headed by Chirag Paswan, have expressed apprehensions,

Opposition leaders, especially RJD chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav, have been charging the JD (U) with "doing politics over dead bodies" by insisting on elections before the current assembly’s term comes to a close in November-end.

The minister’s statement came a day after opposition parties wrote a letter to the Election Commission, apparently reconciled to the possibility of timely polls, demanding that traditional mode of the campaign be allowed, instead of limiting electioneering to digital platforms.

The letter was signed by state RJD chief Jagadanand Singh, state secretaries of CPI(ML), CPI and CPI(M) Kunal, Satyanarayan Singh and Awadhesh Kumar respectively, besides HAM state president B L Vaishyantri and RLSP national treasurer Rajesh Yadav.

Grand Alliance sources said leaders of the Congress and Vikassheel Insaan Party, which are part of the five-party opposition coalition, were "in agreement but could not be reached for signatures because of lockdown".

The letter also expressed apprehensions about fairness and impartiality of polls being affected because of the Election Commission's recent decision to allow voting through postal ballots for some category of voters.

The letter demanded that parties are allowed to hold conventional election rallies and people permitted to attend, with all distancing norms in place.

It claimed digital campaigns were tilting the scale in the favour of the ruling JD(U)-BJP campaign which had more resources at its disposal by virtue of being in power.

It also sought to scrap the idea of postal ballots for senior citizens and suggested setting up separate polling booths for them to ensure the safety of the age group said to be vulnerable to the viral infection.