Opinion On ‘rath prabharis’, EC does the right thing — Centre should take notes
Express View: While the EC has done well to restrain the government, the Centre also needs to be reminded that the lop-sided zeal of its agencies skews the playing field with fear and favour
While the EC has done well to restrain the government, the Centre also needs to be reminded that the lop-sided zeal of its agencies skews the playing field with fear and favour. 
The Election Commission has done well to apply the check and maintain the balance. On Thursday, the poll monitor directed the cabinet secretary to ensure that the “Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra” does not make any stops in the five poll-bound states. Only days earlier, ministries’ plans to nominate senior bureaucrats as “rath prabharis” for the yatra, to be flagged off from Jharkhand by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November, to “showcase” and “celebrate” the government’s “achievements”, had stirred up a controversy.
The Opposition had alleged a bid to politicise the bureaucracy, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge writing a letter to the PM. Now, the EC has cited the Model Code of Conduct, which came into force from the date of announcement of elections, and which will remain in operation till December 5. And in the face of the blowback, government has also backpedalled on nomenclature — those in charge of the information, education and communication vans, which are not likely to be referred to as “rath”, will be called “nodal officers”, not “rath prabharis”.
All is well, that ends in a more level playing field. But as crucial elections in five states draw nearer, it is also apparent that the work of checking and balancing is not yet done.
On Thursday, even as the EC made the government step back on the yatra, the Enforcement Directorate knocked on doors linked to Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot shared on social media that the ED had also issued summons to his son, Vaibhav. The case against Gehlot’s son involves an alleged FEMA violation; the raid on Dotasra is in connection with the 2021 Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers paper leaks.
Both cases must stand, or fall, on merit, through due process of law. But it is difficult not to notice a clear and recurring pattern. Ahead of elections, the ED has swung into action that seems to target only members of the Opposition. In the past few months, the ED has raided/arrested/summoned leaders or those related to them, of non-BJP parties in Chhattisgarh, MP, Rajasthan and Telangana – from Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha in Telangana, in connection with the Delhi liquor scam case, to Congress leader Kamal Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri in a bank fraud case, to Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel’s political advisor Vinod Verma in the Mahadev app case.
The impression is unmistakable — the central probe agency is kicking up dust only against the Opposition in the run-up to elections. While the EC has done well to restrain the government, the Centre also needs to be reminded that the lop-sided zeal of its agencies skews the playing field with fear and favour.
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