EC deserved rap on the knuckles

The Election Commission of India (ECI) deserved the Madras High Court’s sharp criticism of its conduct of elections in four states and one union territory, which concluded on Thursday. The criticism amounted to a strong censure. The court went to the extent of suggesting that the EC officials should be booked for murder for the death of many people in the second wave of the pandemic, because it thought many of these deaths might be the result of the Commission’s failure to enforce protocol during the campaign period. The court wondered whether the Commission was on a different planet when huge election rallies were taking place. Similar criticism was voiced about the panel by the Calcutta High Court last week. It said that the ECI was only passing circulars and had failed to enforce Covid guidelines during the West Bengal elections.

Even before the courts made these observations there has been criticism of the EC’s conduct from various quarters including the media, observers of the election scene, persons who were in the past associated with the election machinery and political parties other than the BJP. Such criticism had pointed out deficiencies in the ECI’s conduct of elections, its questionable decisions and acts of commission and omission which were seen to have favoured the BJP. The decision to hold the elections in eight phases in West Bengal and in three phases in Assam was seen as a step to enable Prime Minister Narendra Modi to campaign for an extended period and to help the BJP. The EC also did nothing to stop or to limit the big rallies which would have contributed to the fast spread of the pandemic. West Bengal’s Covid cases increased 40 times after the first phase elections. The number of cases increased in other states also during the campaign period. The proposal to hold virtual rallies was hardly implemented.

The conduct of free and fair elections is the basic requirement of democracy. In times of pandemic as at present, and in similar situations, the safe conduct of elections also becomes important. As the Madras High Court pointed out, the EC’s failure to enforce Covid protocol endangered the lives of people. The Commission has announced some measures now but they have come after the strictures from the courts. It has banned victory processions after the results are declared on May 2. There are restrictions on the number of persons who can accompany the winning candidate to the returning officer and norms to be followed in the counting centres. These are welcome and will certainly help in these times of fast speed of the pandemic. The criticism made by the court and others should guide the Commission in similar situations in future.