Skipping Maharashtra opens ECI to criticism

India has entered another election period with the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s announcement of the poll schedule for Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana. There was uncertainty about holding elections in J&K because the Union government had dilly dallied on it for a long time. They are being held there after 10 years, and it would have been difficult to postpone them any further, especially because the government has claimed that the situation is back to normal. The ECI has announced three-phase polling, with the election dates being September 18 and 25, and October 1. The short schedule shows the commission’s confidence, but security will still be a major consideration, especially in the Jammu region, which has seen a spurt in terrorist activity. There will be attempts to disrupt the campaigns and the election process, and the ECI will have to be watchful. It may also be noted that there is no word on statehood yet.

Elections to the Haryana Assembly will be held on October 1, and the results will be announced, as with J&K, on October 4. The Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra have gained importance after the Lok Sabha elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power in Haryana, and it is in the driving seat in the Mahayuti alliance, which rules Maharashtra. The party suffered setbacks in both states in the Lok Sabha elections, and its performance in the two states in the Assembly elections will be politically significant. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance and the Congress have done well in both states. The results of the Assembly elections will, therefore, be of national importance.

The ECI did not announce the schedule for Maharashtra though both Haryana and Maharashtra had elections in November 2019. It said because of the requirement of security forces in J&K and Haryana, it had decided to hold simultaneous elections only in those two states. It also cited the heavy rainfall and festival season in Maharashtra as other reasons. These are not credible. Maharashtra is politically more important than Haryana, and the ECI’s decision raises uncomfortable questions. It has in the past invited criticism for drawing up poll schedules in such a way that the prime minister gets enough time for campaigning, or the government gets enough time to announce welfare schemes. It is likely to be criticised now for delaying the announcement of elections in Maharashtra to give time to the Mahayuti government to announce more sops, or to help it to better project the schemes already announced. Ironically, the commission said it could not hold simultaneous elections in three states a day after the prime minister talked about ‘one nation, one election’.