Gujarat poll schedule delay draws sharp criticism

The controversial decision of the Election Commission (EC) wherein it announced state Assembly election dates for Himachal Pradesh but deferred the poll dates for Gujarat elections has drawn sharp criticism.

The term of both state assemblies in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh expires in January 2018. Himachal Pradesh will vote on November 9 and election results will be declared on December 18.

Even though the voting for Gujarat polls, according to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AK Joti, will wind up before Himachal results are declared, opposition parties including the Congress have accused the ruling BJP of pressuring the EC to delay announcing dates for the Gujarat Assembly elections.

The EC decision is also a radical departure from its long-standing practice. In the past, EC has announced poll dates and clubbed elections together in the states where the incumbent governments completed their term within six months.

Since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into force from the date of announcement of poll dates, the critics have accused the Centre of exerting pressure on the EC to defer announcement of the Gujarat Assembly polls ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the state early next week.

A common code that aims to provide a level-playing field to all contesting candidates during election season, MCC debars the government in power from announcing any sops or new decisions that could influence voters.

Joti’s defence that this was done to avoid an unreasonably long imposition of the MCC in the state, seems far from convincing. Earlier this year, state Assembly elections in five states including Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand were announced simultaneously on January 4. The MCC remained in force for 31 days in Goa and Punjab, 59 days in Manipur, 63 days in Uttar Pradesh and 42 days in Uttarakhand.

“This raises some serious questions. The terms of the two state assemblies are almost coinciding. So why should the EC wait to announce dates for Gujarat?” former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi was quoted by the The Indian Express.

“The Chief Election Commissioner has already clarified that voting in Gujarat will wind up before Himachal results are announced. If that’s the case, then Gujarat votes will be counted within a week of Himachal, if not on the same day. So how many days of MCC have you spared Gujarat? A week maybe? What does that really achieve?” the paper further quotes him.

Quraishi told The Hindu that the EC’s decision to not announce the dates for Assembly polls for Gujarat even as it announced the dates for Himachal Pradesh, created a “ground of suspicion” as PM Modi is expected to visit Gujarat next week.

Many social media users have pointed out that Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh poll dates are being announced simultaneously since 1998, except for 2002 when Gujarat Assembly was dissolved prematurely.

“This is even stranger if Gujarat Assembly elections are to be completed before December 18, then MCC must be applicable there too,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on twitter.

While PM Modi and several others have been pressing for synchronising state Assembly elections with the Lok Sabha polls, many pointed out that EC decision goes against spirit of simultaneous elections. Others quipped that BJP seems underconfident ahead of Assembly polls in Gujarat. Here’s a collection of more reactions:

“The Modi government appears to be putting pressure on the EC to defer announcement of Gujarat elections along with Himachal to suit its political ends,” Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted.

“The reason is that the Prime Minister is visiting Gujarat on October 16 as a 'false Santa Claus' to announce sops and 'jumlas' that he didn't implement for 22 years. Onus lies on the EC to ensure level playing field by announcing Gujarat election dates and imposing the Model Code of Conduct immediately,” he said.

He said if Modi had gone to Gujarat after the declaration of poll dates, he would have gone there as a campaigner and would not have been able to make populist announcements.

With inputs from IANS