ECI issues advisory to Chief Secys of States, UTs
Faced with non-availability of seats for senior officers and observers on the national carrier Air India, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed that States should not insist on travel by Air India only. They should be provided seats on other airline companies as they are required to travel on a very short notice to different parts of the country. It was construed as a major handicap as the Central Government has mandated that tickets for such travel could be availed only from Air India.
In a communiqué to Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories, the ECI directed that all such officers who are entitled to travel by air and are required to travel on a short notice in connection with election-related work should be allowed to travel in any of the airlines as per their entitled class. “In case of exigency of work, the officers who are entitled to travel by air should not be insisted upon to travel by Air India only,” the communiqué said.
It would be pertinent to mention that a large number of officials have lodged complaints to ECI that they are facing difficulties in booking their tickets only through Air India, which have limited seats. “It has come to notice of the Commission that officers, who are required to travel by air in connection with election-related work, face difficulties in booking their tickets only through the public carrier Air India due to unavailability of seats as per desired time schedule. This sometimes leads to delay in discharge of duties associated with election-related work and hampers work to a great extent,” it said.
A senior official who has been appointed as election observer in Tamil Nadu said on the condition of anonymity that he was trying for booking Air India flight for election duty but it could not be booked as there was no seat available.
Sources said that State Governments have been quite steadfast in providing air tickets to officials who are on elections duty. Many a times ECI could not send its observers as they fail to get a seat on Air India flights to that particular destination. Having received reports from the harried officials, the ECI has decided to take the matter in its own hands. Now it will be the duty of the Centre to arrange tickets for the ECI observers from the other service providers in the aviation industry.
On the other hand, the ECI has also fixed rates for hiring choppers in the coming lok Sabha elections in the country. The rates would be between Rs 80,000 to Rs 2.50 lakh per hour depending on the seating capacity of the helicopters. This is the first time that hiring choppers rates would be included in the election expenditure of the political parties and its candidates. The cost of chartering an aircraft or helicopter can rise to 15 per cent to 23 per cent during the forthcoming elections.
The ECI has issued directions to chief electoral officers of all States and Union Territories, fixing the charges of helicopters on hourly basis plus service tax at the rate of 12.36 per cent. As per the information provided by Captain Irshad Ahmed, Inspector Operations, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, that average rates which are being charged per hour plus service tax of 12.36 per cent of Bell 429 chopper is Rs 1.6 lakh while the charges of Bell 407 is between Rs 85,000-Rs 90,000 per hour. Bell 407 chopper is a four-seater while Bell 429 is a six- to eight-seater.
The charges of Bell 412 and Dauphin helicopter (11-seater) is Rs 2.50 lakh per hour. Earlier, politicians and political parties used to quote different rates while using choppers during elections. This is the first time that ECI has decided to fix charges for choppers being used during elections.