Commissions rule

The Election Commissions moral authority is beyond dispute. Therefore,for the EC to enforce that authority through the oversight of the trivial is to undermine that very authority. Why then has the EC made such a spectacular spectacle of its role in the electoral process this time round? To go by its mandate,what the EC is responsible for is the free and fair conduct of elections. That is where its job begins and ends. To that end,the EC implements a model code of conduct for electoral candidates and their parties as well as for bureaucrats. One would take all this to be very serious business indeed,with related violations and retributions.

Which is why the ECs rummaging through things clearly not its lookout this time is so disquieting. It has not only overreached,only to retract days later and thereby embarrass itself and court the danger of over-correction,as in advising candidates on how they must articulate their politics,but it also appears to enjoy the luxury of bearing down upon what earlier wouldnt have raised eyebrows. Thus,in 2009,we are witness to the absurdity of Andhra Pradesh bureaucrats being forbidden from wearing a particular colour identified with a specific party. Part of the problem of course lies in the so-called fear psychosis of officials. Nevertheless,it is amazing that they had to rush to the EC for spending money on stationary or that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan in Punjab cannot provide weaker engineering students with study material before their examinations because the EC wants the printing deferred till after the polls,by when it would be too late for the students.

Chasing campaign helicopters to photographs on walls and websites,the EC has had its hands fuller than in other general election years. The five-phase polls have begun on a threatening note on account of poll violence,especially by the Naxalites and there are miles to go yet. There is a thin line between an authoritarian,omniscient,all-punishing EC and one that conducts an election freely and fairly in as non-confrontational a manner as is conducive to retaining the colour and cacophony that deepen electoral democracy. The more focussed the EC remains on that core objective,the better it would justify its raison detre,the better it would serve Indian democracy. Life cannot come to a standstill because of an election. And we cannot risk the loss of the moral authority the EC routinely carries.