Blowing the whistle

Ask the chair umpire of a John McEnroe match. Ask Dickie Bird or S. Venkatraghavan. Or ask those flashers of yellow cards and red cards at World Cup football matches. Umpiring is not for the faint-hearted. It requires not just physical fitness to keep up with the players, but the mental endurance to withstand crowd pressure and the tantrums of star players. The Election Commission EC, as the umpire extraordinaire of the Indian elections, certainly has an unenviable job at hand. All the more so since elections in this country has the nervous energy, pace and frenzy of a tennis, cricket and football match put together.

The Commission has already had some famous run-ins with the players in this time8217;s electoral game, and those from the ruling party in particular. This is to some extent to be expected since party perceptions are bound to differ with those appointed to administer the elections. First, there were the differences over the dates for the polls, with the EC asking for more time to update itselectoral lists and the BJP 8212; no doubt anxious to avenge its defeat over the Confidence Vote as quickly as possible 8212; lobbying for a June election. After the elections were announced on July 11, disagreements grew apace, with EC vetoing the government8217;s moves on DTH, the proposed amendment to the Cable TV Network Regulation Act and the proposal for a National Reconstruction Corps. Then came the EC8217;s request for a comprehensive report on the new telecom policy. While the BJP felt it was being singled out for scrutiny, there was really nothing exceptionable about the EC8217;s stand on these issues. The latest series of disagreements hinges on two broad areas. The first concerns the projection of Kargil in the campaigns, with the EC directing the Defence Ministry not to telecast a documentary on Kargil over the official media until after the elections, so that it would not appear as if the Kargil victory was being used by the ruling party to promote itself. The second had to do with ban on media personneltravelling with the Prime Minister in his official aircraft during his electioneering.

While the Kargil victory has been politicised and there is little that the EC or anyone else can do about it, this reminder of the political autonomy of the Armed Forces vis-a-vis electoral politics is certainly in order. The media directive may appear unfair on the face of it, especially since other political leaders are not similarly constrained since they will be travelling in hired facilities, but there is nothing really stopping the BJP from making independent arrangements for transporting journalists on the Prime Ministerial trail and arranging periodic press conferences for them at various venues. In any case, it is up to the various media houses to make the necessary arrangements for an event should they consider it worthy of coverage. Freedom of the information that flows from the generosity of the Prime Minister8217;s Office is a dubious freedom, in any case. Having said this, it must also be emphasised that the ECmust desist from being overly bureaucratic in its approach. Elections are, after all, the festival of the people and it certainly would not benefit Indian democracy if they were to be robbed of their colour and vibrancy by an all-too-rigid interpretation of the rules.