All the opposition parties have criticised the Election Commission of India’s decision to hold the Lok Sabha elections over seven phases. The opposition have questioned the need for the country aiming to have ‘one nation, one election’ to hold Lok Sabha polls in seven phases. Besides, the difference between two phases range from 7 to 11 days which, according to the opposition, is beneficial to the ruling BJP. If one had to take a close look at the ECI’s organisation, some things stand out. For example, the States where polls will be held in seven phases are Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar.
There are 89 Lok Sabha seats in UP, 42 in WB and 40 in Bihar. It is obvious that BJP relies heavily on Uttar Pradesh to gain higher margin. And so, BJP’s focus is on consistent public meetings by PM Narendra Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath in the northern state. Although it is argued that elections in the aforementioned states are being taken phase-wise given the law and order in these states as well as their electoral history marked with violence, the opposition has claimed the move to be politically motivated. The scheduling will allow Modi and Adityanath to hold meetings in every constituency of UP in between each phase and the situation is same in West Bengal too. BJP will have enough time to campaign in between the two phases to challenge Mamata Banerjee’s TMC. Although Nitish Kumar has once again joined hands with BJP in Bihar, his regular U-turns could have negative impact on the voters and to avoid the uncertainty, polls will be held in the State over seven phases despite it having only 40 seats. One may wonder how the government or ruling party is responsible for the scheduling which is done by ECI as the respective Commission is an autonomous body. However, one can also ask if the ECI has truly maintained its integrity as an autonomous body given some of its recent decisions, especially in regard to its stance in struggle for power in Maharashtra.
Therefore, there is no possibility of ECI not discussing or taking the government’s opinion while deciding on the scheduling of the polling dates. Infact, there is no issue of law and order in Maharashtra like it is in UP or Bihar and yet, the voting will happen across seven phases in the State for 48 seats. The opposition has claimed that given how BJP grabbed power by causing split within Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra, the phase-wise voting will allow the ruling party to pacify the voters and take stock of the situation every step of the way. This is the first time after 1991 that elections will have prolonged voting process which is beginning on April 19 and culminating on June 1. In 1991, polls were held on May 20, June 12 and June 15 after the then government led by Prime Minister Chandrasekar was dismissed. That was the only time Lok Sabha elections were held in June. The dates of last three general elections have not gone beyond the month of May. The last day to vote during 2019 elections was May 19 and results were declared on May 23. In 2014, voting ended on May 12 while results were announced on May 16. The last phase of 2009 polls ended on May 13. However, the polling will go on till June 1 this time and results are slated to be announced on June 4. And so, it would take till at least first week of June for the 18th Lok Sabha to come into power.
This will definitely favour the ruling BJP because the same government will continue as the caretaker government until the new government is formed. Needless to say, this will allow the ruling party to have control over the system. It has come to light that each and every government till today has been adopting the same strategy. Once one phase of the election is done and dusted, police are pressed into service to obtain reports secretly in order to decide on the next course of action. Besides, the last dates to submit candidacy is different in each phase which will allow the parties to change the candidate at the last minute. All in all, the ruling BJP is going up for polls by arranging everything as per their convenience. While the ruling party has its own home turf, wickets, balls and umpire; only June 4 will tell how many runs the opposition scores and take wickets of the ruling party.
