Does the Election Commission not take cognizance of the religious and cultural calendar of all religions? Does the Commission assess the importance of festivals as per its own discretion? It is a fact that the Election Commission definitely discusses with every political party before declaring elections. Are these topics not raised in that discussion? If any political party raised objection regarding the election dates, then why did the Election Commission take a late decision on it?
Many questions have been raised on the role of the Central Election Commission in the assembly elections to be held after the Lok Sabha elections of 2024. But the Election Commission, let alone changing its decisions, did not even respond. Be it the controversial ‘EVM’ or the number of votes cast after the elections, the Election Commission has always been in the news. But recently the Election Commission took some decisions in the upcoming assembly elections which had to face strong criticism. In such a situation, it is also important to see how the Central Election Commission, on whose working style many questions have been raised, will give meaning to the controversial decisions taken during these elections?
Be it the general elections of the country or the assembly elections, the voters always celebrate it like a festival. In this, every political party tries to woo its voters by giving them big promises in expectation of their votes for the next five years. But the people of the country have also come to know that irrespective of the party, all the parties make political promises as if the public is worshipable for them and these leaders are ready to do anything for them.
But does it actually happen that election promises are fulfilled? Why do leaders remember the public only during elections? Well, this is the matter of leaders. The issue that is drawing readers’ attention today is transparency in elections. Regarding these promises, many political parties are warning their leaders to make only those promises which can be fulfilled.
No matter which party forms the government. For the past several months, everyone has been talking about how transparently the Central Election Commission, the supreme constitutional body that organizes elections, conducts these elections. The priority of the Election Commission should be to give full opportunity to every party and leave the decision in the hands of the people of the country. In the last few months, there was a lot of controversy over the Election Commission, first regarding EVM and then regarding VVPAT. Every opposition party unanimously demanded that EVMs should be removed from the country and elections should be held on ballot paper only. But the country’s top court directed the Election Commission to exercise more caution and continued using EVMs.
The latest issue was regarding changing the dates fixed by the Election Commission. The Election Commission has decided to change the dates for the by-elections for the assembly seats of UP, Punjab and Kerala. It is noteworthy that the work of changing the date has not been done for the first time, but such a decision has been taken thrice in the same year. The date of counting of votes was changed once and the date of voting was changed twice. What effect changing the date will have on voting and results is a different matter. But changing the election date after declaring it raises many questions.
The Central Election Commission is a very big institution whose sole aim is to conduct fair and transparent elections in the country. Whenever election dates are announced, there is a rigorous exercise behind it. Like school examinations should not be held on the election date. If this occurs, schools may not be available for voting. Nor can teachers and other school staff be available for election duty on these dates. There should not be any festivals or festivals on the dates on which elections are to be held. This may also affect the voting process. There are many aspects that are taken into consideration before deciding the election dates.
Once the Election Commission announces the polling dates, there can be scope for change in them only due to untoward incidents. If still the Election Commission changes the dates after the announcement, then it means that the Election Commission does not consider all these things holistically before announcing the dates. Or do the election officials of the states not give correct information about the religious and cultural traditions of the region to the Central Election Commission? If we talk about festivals, there is no festival whose date is not fixed in advance.
So doesn’t the Election Commission take cognizance of the religious and cultural calendar of all religions? Does the Commission assess the importance of festivals as per its own discretion? It is a fact that the Election Commission definitely discusses with every political party before declaring elections. Are these topics not raised in that discussion? If any political party raised objection regarding the election dates, then why did the Election Commission take a late decision on it?
Just as the Central Election Commission is already surrounded by controversies regarding EVMs and VVPATs, it should not only claim transparency in elections but should also appear transparent. Therefore, the Election Commission should take the questions seriously and try to keep itself away from doubts. To strengthen a healthy democracy, the need of the hour is to have fair and transparent elections and electoral process.