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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, December 22: Political parties remain sharply divided over the issue of permitting Exit Polls in the run up to the elections, with the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) taking opposite views on the matter.
While the Congress has refused to backtrack from its stand that Exit and Opinion Polls should be banned once the poll schedule is announced, the Bharatiya Janata Party is equally vehement that such polls be banned only 48 hours before the actual polling takes place.
The Janata Dal (JD), meanwhile, has urged the Election Commission (EC) to impose restrictions on the publication of Opinion and Exit Polls from the date of nomination until the announcement of complete results.
Party secretary general Bapu Kaldate, who headed the three-member JD delegation at today’s meeting convened by the EC, told mediapersons that experience had shown that those who had money could easily manage such polls and therefore any publication prior to elections was bound to influence the voters. He said that his party asked the EC not to announce the Opinion Poll results even after polling as dates of elections were not common throughout the country.
Meanwhile, the stalemate continued over the question of proxy vote for defence and diplomatic personnel. At the day-long meeting of the seven national parties and the EC, the Congress, JD, Samata Party and the two Left parties opposed the proposal. Arguing that the issue had to be “deliberated seriously” by the Parliament and decided by the next government, those opposing the proxy scheme said it should not be implemented in the upcoming 12th Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP, however, supported the EC’s proposal that around 25 lakh defence personnel serving away from their home state should be allowed to vote by proxy.
Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill had in a letter to the prime minister last week sought an ordinance to permit proxy voting.
The EC had called the seven national parties to seek their views on such contentious issues as media time on AIR and Doordarshan, the expense limit for the polls and a common code of conduct.
The EC’s proposal that all national political parties should be allowed time on the national radio and television networks found wide support though differences surfaced on the allocation of time.
The EC has suggested that a total of ten hours of time be given to each national party on the national channels of Doordarshan and AIR. It has also recommended that a total of 30 hours be allocated to state recognised parties on regional channels of DD and AIR.
While a minimum of 30 minutes should be given to each party on DD and AIR, the total time could be calculated on the basis of votes polled in the last LS polls for national parties and the last state Assembly elections for state recognised parties. According to the EC, the scheme could be operated as units of five and ten minute long “time vouchers”.
The day-long meeting saw a consensus among participants on the issue of raising the ceiling for expenses for the elections, but there was no agreement on how high the ceiling should be.
The only conspicuous absentee at the meeting of national parties was the Bahujan Samaj Party, which was recently elevated to a national party by the EC.
Gill had set the tone of the day’s proceedings by exhorting the parties to “give the people a good parliament and a good government” by keeping out all criminals.
