An Unfair Regulator

With a population of more than 1.2 billion people who are responsible for choosing their leaders, elections in India is a huge event. It is the responsibility of the organizing bodies, government and the present opposition to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance to cast their vote in favour of their leader.

The Indian General Elections 2014 is the biggest ever voting event that has been observed in the history of mankind. With more than 800 million voters and 543 constituencies, organizing such a large scale election event is not an easy task. The Election Commission of India is the organising body which has the responsibility to conduct free and fair elections throughout the country and the regulator is given immense powers that it can act upon in case there is violation of any rule or guideline.

The real play of the Election Commission comes into form on the day the Model Code of Conduct come into application with the announcement of poll schedule. The model code of conduct came to force on March 5th, 2014 and will continue till the declaration of results on May 16th. The Election Commission divided the elections in total 9 phases starting from April 7th and ending on May 12th with different number of seats being put to vote in each phase. The motive behind large number of phases is primarily to ensure that elections are not rigged and to ensure availability of enough security personnel and Election observers at all polling stations which isn't possible if a large number of seats are contested on a same day across varied geographies.

Indian Election Commission is one of the most respected bodies in India as well as around the world. The powers given to the Election Commission even bypass the powers of a Prime Minister during the time the model code of conduct is in force. This can be gauged from the fact that for every move taken after March 5th the Government has to take the permission of EC now be it the appointment of the Naval Chief, issuance of bank licences, conducting some sort of enquiry, etc.

With so much powers in hand the EC if wants can fully ensure that no untoward incident takes places during the election time which may influence voters and cast shadow on the fairness of such a process. But the General Elections of 2014 are painting a different story than what has been heard about the fair regulator.

The facts stated below are just an observation as to how the actions taken by EC appear to a common citizen of India. The EC in the later phases of the polling has been seen as being totally against the current opposition party and its Prime Ministerial candidate Mr. Narendra Modi. Incidents like booking Mr. Modi for flashing BJP sign on the poll venue and talking to the media personnel near the election booth which was although outside the restricted 100 meters radius have cast shadow on the fairness of EC which has acted in a hurry in order to spread negative publicity for the BJP PM candidate.

Modi's selfie with BJP election symbol in hand became a subject of controversy

Not only this, complaints by the BJP regarding rigging at polling booths in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh & Bihar have been totally unheard by the EC when its the duty of the regulator to probe the complaints and give satisfactory reply to the aggrieved party. The harsh attitude of EC on BJP leaders like Amit Shah who was booked for giving a hate speech even when the words religion and caste din't come on his mouth has against pointed questions at the fairness of the EC.

The regulators no objection to the Congress move of appointing an inquiry of the Snoopgate which was clearly being done for political gains have cast apprehensions in the minds of voters as to what side is the regulator playing from.

The latest controversy in which Modi has been denied permission for a rally in Varanasi on May 8th and a permission for a full fleged road show given to Rahul Gandhi in the same city clearly shows the biased attitude of the Returning Officer of the city. ECs deaf ear attitude to the letter written by Mr. Arun Jaitley criticizing the orders of the returning office has somewhat shown that all is not FAIR with the Election Commission now.

 I have mentioned just some of the controversial moves by the EC taken in these elections. These are controversial because of their attack on a single party which favours the ruling Congress party which has been facing huge anti-incumbency and has been marred by corruption scandals. The EC has lost some credibility which is unhealthy for the largest democracy of the world.