TNN | May 16, 2014, 01.25 AM IST
NEW DELHI: For all the praise it earned for the highest ever voter turnout, Election Commission may have lost some of its sheen over reports of rigging and booth capture in West Bengal, UP and Bihar and its handling of the high profile Varanasi election.
Criticism that it has been unable to check high handedness of ruling parties in some states and BJP's charge that it was negligent in disciplining partisan officials in Varanasi who prevented Narendra Modi from addressing even a single rally have hurt the EC.
Perhaps for the first time since T N Seshan turned the EC into a feared watch dog, the panel's competence has been questioned with voices of disapproval emerging from within the commission itself.
EC's ugliest spat was with BJP over denial of permission for Modi's Beniabagh rally in Varanasi on security grounds. When BJP leader Arun Jaitley appealed to CEC V S Sampath, the latter chose to sit on the file, only to endorse the decision late at night. The result was that Modi could not hold a single rally in the constituency.
Election commissioner H S Brahma's admission of a delay in informing BJP leader Narendra Modi that he could not hold a rally and a frank admission that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi presence inside a polling booth in Amethi was unauthorized are blots on the EC record.
While it was quick to order an FIR against Modi for his selfie and media interaction outside a poll booth, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's unauthorized inspection of EVMs in Amethi was condoned by the EC, when TOI photographs clearly showed him entering the polling booths, including during polling hours.
As for poll code transgressions, EC did crack down, but by election commissioner Brahma's own admission at a May 9 media interaction, actions were marked by delays and lack of consistency. So, while Azam Khan and Amit Shah were banned from campaigning (the ban on Shah was later lifted), EC chose to give a long rope to Beni Prasad Verma who repeatedly transgressed the code.
Similarly, when a Lalu Prasad or TMC's Derek O Brien called Modi a "butcher" and stated that "his hands were soiled with blood", the EC raised no objections. Even AAP candidate Shazia Ilmi's communal appeal, captured in a video clip, was ignored by the panel.
At a time when the advent of EVMs appeared to have made booth-capturing and rigging more difficult, reports from West Bengal, Bihar and UP suggest that strong arm tactics were back in fashion.
Failure to take timely and consistent action on model code and electoral law violations and public disagreements within the Commission dented a hard won reputation for competence and even handedness EC has acquired over the past two decades.
The list of instances that made parties question the election management process is long. For the first time since EVMs were launched booth-capturing and rigging, associated for long with the paper ballot system, made a disturbing comeback.
Once again, polls in the "once-badlands" of UP, Bihar and West Bengal saw booth capturing, though in select constituencies, and casting of bogus votes through EVMs. A common refrain was that central para-military forces in many key constituencies were deployed only on paper, facilitating booth capturing in the "unmanned" polling stations.
Rigging in states like West Bengal was accompanied by violent clashes. Both BJP and Left parties moved EC demanding large-scale re-poll and a better force deployment in the following rounds. However, the EC not only delayed action but also dismissed most of the repoll requests as unwarranted.
"Free and fair conduct is as much about sharp oversight by the Commission as about deployment of poll observers and central forces. Senior officials of the EC have to closely monitor the poll through field visits rather than by relying on the observers' report alone," a former CEC told TOI.
"One wonders if boosting voter turnouts has the EC too preoccupied to focus on actual conduct of polls," he said.
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