Tags:
Journalism of Courage
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.
