Votes cast. Ballots sealed. Results awaited. That’s the current scenario. The Election Commission has been endowed by law, with near dictatorial powers in the matter of elections. Thus, not even the highest court of the land has the power to intervene in the election process. And rightly so. Otherwise, injunctions and stays could play havoc.
However, such dictatorial powers seem to have gone to the head and the Election Commission displays little concern for the voters for whose benefit such powers are conferred. The prolonged election process is uncalled for and counter productive. Nowhere, in the world are elections staggered in so many stages, as is being done in India, even when the elections are for a few States. Till the eighties, elections for both Lok Sabha and State Assemblies were held together on a single day, without much harm.
Why have the elections to Goa and Punjab been held in the first stage? Why have the results been delayed by five weeks? Could the elections for these States not have been held along with last stage in UP, so that results could be announced within four days? Is there something more than meets the eye? These questions are being asked everywhere.
The Election Commission though independent does not have its own staff, so it is the Government servants who are drafted to hold the elections. And as we know, all Government servants are supine, willing to do their masters’ bidding. And we also know that electronic hacking is so advanced that nothing is beyond reach. Numbered Swiss bank accounts have been hacked. The US top secrets sites have been hacked. Wikileaks has become a household word. Is the voter wrong in believing that the voting machines could also be similarly hacked? Of course, it can be argued that now there is a paper trail of the votes, which are kept in sealed containers. And that reminds me of a famous case in Margao, where hundreds of rice bags were attached and sealed by the police, under panchanama. When the matter came for trial, the seals were opened and it was found, that the rice in the bags had magically turned into husk! Result; accused acquitted. Who can guarantee that the broom may not bloom into a lotus when the ballot boxes are opened? Five weeks is a long enough period for any underhand activity by those who are wielding power. Interestingly, such a long period is available only in the two BJP-ruled States.
The result of such a long delay in counting is a complete paralysis of the administration as election code continues to be in force which in Goa is a long two and a half months. The normally lethargic, Govt. servants now have a readymade excuse to shirk work; simply blame the election code. The delay has given ample time to political pundits (almost everyone is one) to make all sorts of predictions. While, I am not unaccustomed to meet people counting the chickens before the eggs are hatched, the delay has provided an opportunity to many, to count the chickens even before the eggs are laid!
Everyone was taken by surprise on voting day as seven hundred service personnel queued up outside an election booth at Navelim raising eye brows, as nothing of that sort had ever happened before. But then, never before has a Goan been a Defence Minister.
The practice and procedure for enrolment of service personnel is that :
“Election Commission orders revision/updation of rolls for service voters twice in a year. The Commission sends a communication to Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs intimating them of the commencement of revision programme. As soon as the programme is announced, persons having service qualification can fill up the application in statutory Form 2/2A/3, in duplicate, and handover to the officer in-charge of record office or the nodal authority in Ministry of External Affairs (in case of persons employed under Government of India on a post outside India). The person applying in Form 2/2A has also to submit a declaration in a prescribed format to the effect that he did not get enrolled as general elector in any constituency. The declaration need not be in duplicate. The officer in-charge/nodal 3 authority will check the Form and declaration and ensure that the Form is complete in all respects and particulars filled by the applicant therein are correct. The officer in-charge, will then, sign the verification certificate provided in the Form itself and forward the same to the Chief Electoral Officer of the State concerned. The Chief Electoral Officer sends the Form to respective District Election Officer who will then send it to the Electoral Registration Officer of the constituency.”
Has this process been followed? Who carried out the verification of the applications from the army personnel? These questions arise because the Defence Minister in this case happens to be former Chief Minister of Goa with vested interests in the outcome of the elections. And the Chief Electoral Officer of the State is again a bureaucrat who holds office on deputation to the Election Commission.
The questionable aspect of the enrolment is that since votes are counted booth wise, and if the army personnel have voted in a particular manner, it will be clear and open casting doubts on the neutrality of the armed forces. And the Defence Minister alone shall be responsible for such a state of affairs.
(Radharao F. Gracias is a senior Trial Court Advocate, ex-MLA, political activist.)
