Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Election Commission has pulled up Jharkhand CM Babulal Marandi for having put up his photos on ration cards distributed to voters. In a similar case earlier, former Chattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi had been pulled up for flooding schoolchildren with school-bags embossed with his own photographs.
With Jharkhand going to polls in February, the EC ruling is bound to affect the prospects of the BJP Chief Minister in the state. In a stern note issued today evening, the EC directed the state government to immediately withdraw ration cards that carry Marandi’s photographs.
‘‘In view providing a level playing ground to all political parties before and during the elections, the commission has asked the Jharkhand Government to issue fresh ration-cards without photographs,’’ the EC officials said.
Incidentally, none of the political parties have made any complaints. The EC took suo moto action after it learnt of the ‘‘serious violation’’.
What left the EC angry was the fact that the state government could tamper with the citizen’s identity document — the ration card — which is the basic requirement for the issuance of passport and the voter identity card.
The EC said the ration card is issued by the state and not the Centre. The EC official said this is a serious‘‘offence’’ that can be dealt with sternly and can even lead to de-barring of the candidate from contesting the election.
Meanwhile, the Commission today held a pre-election review meeting with chief secretaries, Home secretaries and chief electoral officers of Bihar and Haryana, that are also to go to polls in February.
