Thursday, March 17, 2022

There’s need to cap spend by parties, but all have to come on board: CEC Sushil Chandra

In a discussion in ET Roundtable, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra defended holding elections amid the pandemic, saying rallies were allowed only when cases were less. He rejected the allegations of bias against the Election Commission of India, saying that it has always provided an equal opportunity. Speaking on the delimitation of Jammu and Kashmir, he said that not only population, but many parameters have to be considered. Part:

Did the Election Commission mis-assess the risk of a pandemic in Bengal elections as compared to UP?

There was no miscalculation as no one can predict the pace or spread or scale of the pandemic. Adequate precautions were taken then. Voters per booth went down and once we saw an increase in the number of Covid counts, we cut off the processions. But people were not vaccinated. There was no direct link between the rallies and the pandemic. In this election phase, we took steps right from the time the election was announced on 8th January. Our polling staff were vaccinated. We took weekly inputs from the health ministry and chief secretaries of polled states. We had clear protection on the need to accelerate vaccination and the Ministry of Health coordinated with an adequate supply of doses. We banned rallies from January 8 due to low vaccination and allowed graded relaxation as vaccination increased and cases decreased.

Wasn’t there a similar conversation last year?

We had consulted with the health ministry. But it was felt that holding open rallies would not contribute to the pandemic (spread). When the election was announced, the cases were few. Nothing untoward happened in Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu. The numbers were lowest in Bengal when the election was announced. As it increased, we reduced the rallies.

Political parties allege that the Election Commission is a slave of the government.

The Election Commission will never show favoritism against any party. These are baseless allegations. If you see the action of MCC, register FIR, you will see that they are against all the parties. It is wrong to say that the Election Commission works for one’s benefit. Whenever a party comes to us, we have always heard them. In these elections, 12 meetings were held – five with Congress, three each with SP and BJP, one with AITC. Where we feel the playing field has deteriorated, action has been taken. As we deal with parties, our policies are transparent.

These elections saw strong digital campaigning. Will it pave the way for digital voting in the future?

Technically, remote polling is possible. The day that happens, it will be a mature decision. However, this decision should be in line with the mind of the voters and the satisfaction of the political parties. Since 2004, we have been conducting elections using EVMs – so far there have been four Lok Sabha elections and 137 assembly elections. Even today people say that EVM can be hacked. The losing political party always blames the EVMs. Therefore, any decision on digital voting will require a synergy between the parties.

Wouldn’t incidents like Varanasi EVM controversy raise suspicion?

This is not the perception of the public. It is only when political parties start creating a narrative, a false impression. There are three types of EVMs – Voted EVMs which are under three-tier security, are under video surveillance and are attended by representatives of political parties. This is followed by training machines for employees and demo machines for voter awareness. Not a single polling EVM has come out in Varanasi so far. Voting EVMs of any kind have never been compromised. Being the last day of polling, the employees had to be trained. This was a complete misrepresentation.

How effective is the Election Commission in controlling illegal money in elections?

We are taking steps to check black money and distribution of free gifts. In these elections, we seized Rs 1,062 crore in cash, narcotics and freebies. We have empowered citizens to upload violations through CVIgil App. 47,000 complaints were received on our app and 40,000 were correct and the Election Commission took action. However, more can be done. While we have expenditure limit for candidates and EC monitors the same, there is no such limit for parties. Hence, they are able to spend any amount. There should be some change in this so that there is equal opportunity for all the parties. Only then the Election Commission can monitor this expenditure. We have not discussed it yet, but for this step all the parties will have to come together.

What about electoral bonds?

It has two aspects – financial transparency and electoral transparency. Why was this thought of in the first place? It was felt that clean money would come to political parties through checks and banking procedures. But from the point of view of the Election Commission, the name of the donor is missing which is against transparency. The matter is before SC.

There are concerns about the Aadhaar-Voter ID linkage.

No one will be denied enrollment in the absence of Aadhar number. The linkage is only to clear our role position.

When can we expect elections in Jammu and Kashmir?

There are two different issues. One, completion of the delimitation process and the conduct of elections by the Election Commission. The term of the delimitation panel ends on May 6 and we will be able to complete that exercise by then. After that, the ECI will update its voter list, review the feasibility of holding elections, security in J&K and then decide the election schedule.

What about objections to the delimitation panel’s draft proposals?

The main objection of the associate members is that it should be done on the basis of population. However, Section 9 of the Delimitation Act states that as far as possible assembly constituencies (as regards) they should be geographically compact but four other parameters should be considered – physical features of the area, public convenience, Units of communication and administrative sector.

Consider Gurez, who was given a constituency of 30,000 people just because it was on a hill. Its physical features were such that it could not be merged with any other constituency. Similarly, we saw huge inequality in the population. In Kishtwar it is 29 persons per sq km while in Srinagar it is 3,400 persons per sq km. How can the same standard be applied to both?

What about the controversy over the inclusion of areas of Jammu in the new Anantnag parliamentary constituency?

Ultimately, it being a union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, it cannot be divided into two regions. We are looking at it as a unit. There are 90 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) and five Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) and we have tried to ensure division so that each PC has 18 ACs – hence the creation of Anantnag.

What about the demands of representation from Kashmiri Pandits?

Many representations came from different organizations. We cannot create constituencies on the basis of religion.

What will happen to the voters of West Pakistan who earlier did not have voting rights due to Article 370 and 25 PoK seats?

Once the process of delimitation is over and whenever the summary amendment is made, whoever is eligible will be nominated as Article 370 is no longer in effect. 24 PoK seats will remain the same as we are delimiting 90 assembly seats.

What are your views on the idea of ​​’One Nation, One Election’?

Good idea. There is no problem provided it is decided by the Parliament. If we want simultaneous elections in 2024, a constitutional amendment has to be made.

Why was there a controversy over the Election Commission attending the meeting with the PMO?

It was on the reforms. There was a meeting with the EC team and we said that if the government still needs to be convinced on the proposed reforms, then the commission will clarify. What’s illegal in speaking for five minutes?

Originally published at Pen 18

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