ELECTION
COMMISSION is the WARNING COMMISSION OF INDIA
It is not that
the important functionaries of the political parties in India, particularly
those ruling at the Centre and the States holding ministerial posts are unaware
of the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct that is enforced by the Election
Commission of India (EC) the moment it announces the election schedule for
general elections to any State assembly or Parliament or by-elections. Yet they
deliberately defy the EC diktat for political and electoral gains.
Now take the
recent case of the Oil Minister Verappa Moily announcing the Union Government
decision to increase the number of LPG gas cylinders on subsidized basis at the
height of Gujarat assembly elections. As is the routine, the EC in a
perfunctory manner immediately called for an explanation from the Minister
concerned for violating the Code of Conduct. The Hon’ble Minister dutifully
submitted his side of the story. The EC issued him a stern warning and the
matter ended there.
Similarly, the
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde addressing an election rally in Gujarat told
the electorate that it was only Congress President Sonia Gandhi who could
appoint a Muslim as chief of the Intelligence Bureau. It was certainly a
violation of the Model Code of Conduct and an appeal to the voters on communal
lines. Yet, the EC preferred to keep its eyes and ears shut to its own
defiance.
It is not that
the violations took place only recently. During the UP assembly elections this
year, there was spate of violations, mostly at the hands of Union Ministers,
obviously with a definite design by Salman Khursheed, Beni Persad Verma, even
Rahul Gandhi and the like, to quote only a few names. The other parties
contesting the election too were not far behind. In all these cases, the old
story was repeated. The EC was as quick to seek explanations and to bury the
hatchet by issuing ‘stern warnings’.
The only
instance worth mentioning is that of Shiv Sena chief late Bal Thackeray who was
hauled up for making a communal speech and his voting rights were withdrawn.
Despite the
Model Code of Conduct and the vigilant eye of the EC, the violators of the law
and the Commission directives get away with attaining the objectives they have
in view when they defy the EC. They make their message reach the constituency
of voters intended. The EC warning is just a routine, useless because it cannot
in any way undo the mischief that has been created by the action of any
political party or its leader.
The
‘stern’ warnings issued each time by the EC to the habitual offenders can be compared
to that of a policeman with a gun and lathi in his hand shouting at a thief
eloping with the booty of his theft blaring out, “Don’t dare to do it again,
otherwise……..”
Certainly, the
EC is proving itself to be a toothless tiger which can certainly howl and growl
but cannot bite.
