Indian Express: New Delhi: Thursday, December 07, 2017.
TWO floods,
two states, two elections two stories.
In October
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A K Joti cited “flood relief” while delaying
the announcement of Gujarat polls. He said the Gujarat Chief Secretary had
written to the Election Commission (EC) seeking more time before the
declaration of poll dates as the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) would hamper flood
relief work.
“We have
received a representation from them (Gujarat government) that there have been
unprecedented floods in July and relief work could only start in
September….They have suggested that the Model Code of Conduct should be imposed
for a reasonable time, so that they do not face problems in carrying out relief
and rehabilitation work,” he said at the press conference on October 12
announcing the poll schedule for Himachal Pradesh.
The delayed
announcement came in handy to the ruling BJP in the state a slew of financial
sops were announced, big-ticket projects were launched across the state and
several Central ministers and BJP Chief Ministers travelled to address election
rallies.
While the EC
found merit in Gujarat’s request, records accessed by The Indian Express under
the Right to Information (RTI) Act show that relief and rehabilitation work in
Jammu and Kashmir which was hit by floods barely three months ahead of Assembly
elections in November 2014 wasn’t affected by the Model Code.
Over 300
people were killed and thousands affected by the September 2014 floods in
J&K, thought to be the worst in decades. But the poll panel, then headed by
V S Sampath and including H S Brahma and Nasim Zaidi, decided against delaying
elections which were held in five phases from November 25 to December 20. The
state recorded 65 per cent voter turnout, the highest in 25 years.
According to the EC’s records:
- Unlike Gujarat, there was no official request from the J&K chief secretary seeking delay in announcement of polls due to flood relief work. The EC, however, did get a petition from the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference seeking deferment of polls in view of the devastation caused by floods. EC files show that the then deputy election commissioner, Vinod Zutshi, recorded the following view against the petition: Concern expressed has already been taken into account by ECI while announcing election. As such, no action may be taken”.
- On November 5, 2014, the EC wrote to the Cabinet Secretary, J&K Chief Secretary and the state’s Chief Electoral Officer, informing them that it had relaxed model code provisions for providing relief and rehabilitation to flood-affected victims.
In this
letter, the EC instructed that “all relief and rehabilitation measures declared
in the flood-affected areas as per the approved schemes of the central/ state
governments may be carried out without prior approval of the Commission.”
It also
permitted “all emergent relief works and measures that are aimed to mitigate
the hardship, directly and solely, of the persons affected by the floods”.
It allowed
the government to give “ex-gratia payments” and “gratuitous relief” directly to
victims and families. That apart, payments to hospitals from the CM’s/ PM’s
relief funds were permitted without reference to the Commission.
Lastly, all
“enabling” administrative and financial work for relief efforts, such as bulk
purchase of relief materials, floating of tenders, their finalisation and
execution were also allowed without EC’s approval.
The EC’s
records show that its permission was sought for implementing four decisions
related to the floods:
- Reference from Chief Minister’s Office regarding reimbursement of rent amounting to Rs 27.5 crore in favour of 18,000 shelterless families affected by floods.
- Reference from the Ministry of Home Affairs on holding a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS), under the chairmanship of cabinet secretary, to review issues relating to rehabilitation and restoration of public assets in J&K.
- Reference from J&K’s finance department to permit tax exemption (under J&K Entry Tax Act and Toll Act) on goods relating to rehabilitation of flood-hit victims.
- Letter from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar seeking permission to employ four contractual workers to keep the library open 24X7, to make up for study hours lost due to floods.
All the
four requests were approved by the EC (see chart).
The Indian
Express filed a separate RTI application seeking copies of letters written by
the Gujarat Chief Secretary requesting delay in announcement of polls on
account of relief work. The EC acknowledged the receipt of two letters, on
September 27 and October 2, but did not provide their copies on the ground that
the file was “under submission”. The EC also said that it had not issued any
reply to the Gujarat Chief Secretary in response to the two letters.
The EC has
been criticised for breaking from convention and not simultaneously announcing
polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, although the terms of the two state
assemblies expire within two weeks of each other. Former Chief Election
Commissioner S Y Quraishi had said that this raised “serious questions”, while
the Congress had alleged that the BJP had pushed the EC to delay the
announcement.
Defending the
decision, Joti had said the two elections were delinked to avoid an
unreasonably long imposition of the model code, which, in his opinion,
obstructed governance.
The Gujarat
election dates were announced two weeks after Himachal Pradesh. The state will
vote in two phases December 9 and December 14.
The model
code aims to provide a level-playing field to all candidates during elections
by guiding the conduct of the incumbent government, political parties and
candidates. For instance, under these guidelines, the government in power
cannot announce any sops or new decisions that could influence voters. It comes
into force from the date of announcement of poll dates and lasts up to the day
of voting.
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