ELECTION COMMISSION is the WARNING COMMISSION OF INDIA

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’. 

After the elections are over, it looks as if all these instances of deliberate violations are forgotten and forgiven.

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is that of Shiv Sena chief late Bal Thackeray who was hauled up for making a communal speech and his voting rights were withdrawn.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.

IS IT NOT COMMUNALISM MR SHINDE & ELECTION COMMISSION?

IS IT NOT COMMUNALISM?

Does it not attract rod of election law?

Who calls the shots in Manmohan government?

Addressing an election meeting in a communally sensitive city of Vadodra in Gujarat, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, according to BBC Hindi (December 11, 2012), gave credit to Congress President, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, for the appointment of first-ever Muslim as the chief of the Intelligence Bureau. This only Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and no other person (even in Congress?) could do so, he claimed. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/india/2012/12/121211_shinde_ibchief_akd.shtml?print=1

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It raises many questions. It establishes the fact that it is the writ of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi which runs in the administration and Prime Minister (for for that matter, Home Minister) are just puppets whose strings are in her hands. It also proves that the Manmohan government is functioning under some extra-constitutional authority like the Congress President who can have full powers in the organization but has no ostensive role in government.

Shinde's claim that it is only Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is a humiliation of the person selected. It gives the impression that he had no merit except the fact that he belonged to the Muslim community.  It is also a fact that he has superseded three-four officers senior to him.

It also raises a question whether any person can be selected/appointed to a post solely on the basis of his belonging to a particular religion/community?

Since Mr. Shinde has made this claim during election campaign in Gujarat, he is not only guilty of indulging in communalism and making a communal appeal to the electorate to vote for Congress, he has also violated the election law.

It remains surprising that the Election Commission has, so far, not taken note of this grave violation of law by a person none other than the Home Minister of India himself.

If the Election Commission could take action against late Bal Thackery for making a communal appeal during elections, why can't it against Mr. Shinde?