- Anil Narendra
Election Commission of India, through its decision, has rendered the State administrations of Punjab and Uttarakhand inactive for more than a month. Election code of conduct is still effective in these States, though polling process has been completed in both the States. The code of conduct would be effective till 6th March, the date of counting of the votes. A Punjab bureaucrat commented, there is no work for us and we are just passing the time by viewing television. Elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur have been completed, but no body knows who runs the State? Who is the Chief Minister or Chief Electoral Officer or Chief Election Commissioner (Delhi)? The irony is that, had the Election Commission given a bit of thought, this situation could have been averted. If polling in Punjab and Uttarakhand would have been held on 3rd March and results declared on 6th March, the state of uncertainty could have been avoided. It can be asked, as to what was the compulsion, which led to the administrations in these States making completely inactive. The Election Commission may argue that it wanted to hold elections at the earliest, as election dates are decided keeping a number of factors under consideration. For example, suggestions of political parties are to be kept under consideration. Then, factors like weather, school examinations, holidays, festivals etc are also considered, while finalizing elections arrangements in States. An Akali Dal leader said that we were expecting polling between 10 to 15 February, but when polling date was declared as 30th January, we were a little baffled. Last two State Assembly elections were held on 13th February in 2002 and 2007. In the election history of Uttarakhand, elections were held for the first time during the period of severe cold and snowfall in the hilly region of the State. There have been two Assembly elections in the State in 2002 and 2007, since its inception. The elections in 2002 were held on 14th February and results were declared 24th February. Similarly, 2007 elections were held on 21st February, whereas results were announced after six days on 27th February. According to EC officials the Chief Minister has still not expressd his desire to relax the code of conduct. No doubt, at present, the Chief Minister is working as a caretaker CM and he neither can transfer any officer nor can he ask for explanation, in real sense. This is also one of the reasons that bureaucrats do not take the CM seriously, because they are not sure of CM coming to power again. Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri had objected to the election dates decided by the Election Commission, but the EC ignored his objections. This could have been avoided, had the polling in both these States been held a few days earlier to the dates of announcement of results. The political parties are explaining this decision of Election Commission according to their different point of views. Akali-BJP say that the Chief Elections Commissioner has taken this decision to please the Congress so that he could be adjusted somewhere after his retirement.
