Delaying tactics

EC's late declaration of Gujarat poll dates is questionable

The Election Commission’s decision to hold the Gujarat Assembly elections almost a month after the polls in Himachal Pradesh has raised a volley of questions that has disturbing implications for Indian democratic norms. This time lapse has provoked considerable conjecture because both the Election Commission and this government have at various points of time in the recent past expressed a preference for holding simultaneous elections. Following the norm, as was done in 2012, of holding polls for these two states simultaneously would have been a good way to establish that intention. In fact, the reason for this time gap is unclear since the Assembly terms of the two states end within about a fortnight of each other in January. Also, since the results for both states will be declared on the same day, December 18, Himachal Pradesh, which goes to the polls on November 9, will have to wait over a month for a verdict.  

The official explanation from the Election Commission is that the flood relief programme in Gujarat was yet to be completed and the Model Code of Conduct, which would come into force immediately, would have precluded further spending on it. This is a specious explanation since the code precludes only fresh spending announcements by state and central governments, not work in progress. The cause for concern deepens when reports reveal the admirable energy of the Gujarat government in announcing a wide variety of concessions ever since the Himachal Pradesh poll dates were announced on October 12. By one reckoning, in the space of 13 days, the state government has announced projects worth about Rs 11,000 crore and some 16 concessions of the kind political parties are infamous for making when elections loom. These range from reimbursement of taxes paid by farmers under the goods and services tax to withdrawing court cases against local officials, salary increases for state government employees and Diwali bonuses. In addition to this crowded concession agenda are the many projects that were rolled out in this brief window of opportunity by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself — a smart city in Vadodara, a metro rail project, inauguration of a roll-on, roll-off ferry (which he erroneously claimed was India’s first), nod for a flyover and even a bus station.

It is difficult to ignore a link between the timing of the series of visits to the state by Mr Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s most indefatigable election campaigner, and the announcement of the Gujarat poll dates. The BJP’s contention that the Congress has employed similar tactics in the past is unfortunate. For a party that aspires to deliver a Congress-mukt Bharat, it is odd that it should choose to emulate one of its rival’s less savoury practices. Commentators have also suggested that pre-poll concessions and new projects do not cut much ice with local voters, so these do not matter in the larger scheme of things. There is some merit in this line of reasoning — election after election since the 1950s has demonstrated that the Indian citizen votes in a mysterious way. But this is to miss the point that such precedents violate the spirit of the ethical restraints on electioneering and brings into question the credibility of the Election Commission as an impartial body.