A Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Minister, in this case Maharashtra’s Devendra Fadnavis has found fault with his state’s Chief Electoral Officer, for postponing polling for two dozen municipal councils and nagar panchayats from December 2 to December 20. It is apparently because of the consequence of the postponement: The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court’s refusal to allow counting of votes and declaration of results on December 3 for the remaining 264 local bodies.
The Postponement Controversy
He was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying, “I do not know who the State Election Commission is consulting, but everybody including legal experts, has said the postponement was uncalled for. I have no personal grudge against the poll body but I am upset because the legal norms are not being followed.” Often the CEO and SEC are used interchangeably. It had postponed on Saturday the polling citing “irregularities” in the election process.
He has referred to “the mess created” by the election body as “unprecedented”. He had never witnessed such an “unprecedented” situation in his entire political career of over three decades. This complaint by a chief minister of his own state’s election body is also quite unprecedented or unheard of so far. Fadnavis agrees the CEO (or SEC) is “autonomous” but “we have been disillusioned by the failure of the system”. It is not clear what he meant by “the system”.
The Indian Express cited him saying it was “systemic failure”. First, the State Election Commission rescheduled the local body elections in several districts a couple of days ago at the eleventh hour. And now, the counting has been postponed.” Political workers “seriously working hard,” are now “subjected to these uncertainties from the systemic shortcomings.” When the postponement to some urban bodies were announced, he, had expressed his disappointment.
High Court’s Rationale
The High Court agreed with a petitioner that counting votes and publicising the results could influence the choices of the voters of the other 24 bodies. Therefore, even the counting for those where polling took place on December 2 would be on December 21, along with the votes of the 24 bodies. Apart from a BJP leader being upset, it should also underscore how we – and the poll body at the state and the national level have allowed some influencing to happen in most elections.
Broader Issue
Take any multi-phase elections whether for the legislative assemblies or the Lok Sabha, the halting of electioneering 36 hours before the actual polling ceases to have any meaning. In one part of a state or the entire country, after the freeze on electioneering, the campaigners move on to other areas for the second phase, and there, the campaigners get more time to seek votes. This helps din the message into the voters’ heads elsewhere. This phasing out does not serve the concept of fairness.
Sure, if the polling is on a Sunday morning, the campaign halts on Friday evening but one big thing remains. The Sunday morning newspapers carry front page advertisements which is actually a continuation of the campaign. It is not as if the campaign halts when the last, usually large, public meeting is held. It gets reported on the pages of the Saturday newspapers, followed by the page one advertising the next day. So, who are we fooling?
We need to think about it because the Election Commission of India has, for some time, even prohibited the exit polls from being telecast or printed in newspapers till the final polling in the last phase. The Bombay High Court’s understanding that Maharashtra’s counting on December 3 is exactly on this basis. Instead of the exit poll, the Maharashtra CEO announcing the results of a majority – or most – of the outcomes would be detrimental to the fairness of those where polling would be later.
Call for Electoral Reform
The High Court’s adherence to the fairness doctrine has to be lauded, and we need to think about enforcing it at all levels, from the gram panchayat to the parliamentary elections. This falls in sync with the current fears of the Election Commission of India not being fair, and examples have been shouted out by the Opposition and various civil societies.
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