The Election Commission (EC) on Friday came under criticism of senior Congress leader P Chidambram for not declaring Gujarat election schedule along with that of Himachal Pradesh. He alleged that the Commission had allowed the BJP to dole out ‘freebies’ and ‘concessions’ in the state before Gujarat goes to the polls. The BJP described the attack on the poll panel as a ‘Save Rahul’ campaign of the opposition party , fearing defeat in the poll.
Chidambaram took on the EC for not announcing the Gujarat poll dates with that of Himachal Pradesh saying that by not announcing the poll schedule, it has ‘authorised’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the dates at his last rally, after all ‘freebies’ for the State were doled out.
The former finance and Home Minister also went on to claim the Election Commission will be ‘recalled’ from its ‘extended holiday’ after the Gujarat government has announced all ‘concessions and freebies’.
“EC has authorised PM to announce date of Gujarat elections at his last rally (and kindly keep EC informed),” he tweeted.
The Congress had alleged that the government put ‘pressure’ on the poll panel to ‘delay’ the announcement of Gujarat assembly poll schedule to enable the prime minister to act as a ‘false santa claus’ and offer sops, use ‘jumlas’ (rhetoric) during his October 16 visit to his home state.
The model code of conduct would have come into immediate effect in Gujarat had the poll schedule been announced along with Himachal Pradesh, the Congress had said.
Defending the EC, BJP spokesperson GVl Narasimha Rao said the tirade against the EC for not announcing was part of the party’s ‘save Rahul’ campaign as it fears that a defeat in the election will stall his elevation to the post of party chief.
“Chidambaram seems to view the EC from his jaundiced eyes. Sonia Gandhi, as an extra-constitutional authority, had subverted institutions and remote-controlled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. PM Modi is a quintessential democrat and does not interfere in the functioning of any institutions,” Rao said.
The BJP spokesman accused the Congress of ‘rank opportunism’ and ‘hypocrisy’ pointing out that the same EC appeared neutral to the Congress when its decision favoured its senior leader Ahmed Patel’s election to the Rajya Sabha.
Joining the counter-attack, Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad and BJP Chief Minister of the state Vijay Rupani also lashed out at the Congress saying it was ‘speaking out of its own experience’ and the opposition was scared of the upcoming State Assembly elections and disapproved of the EC criticism by former Home Minister.
“We believe elections should happen on due time, and it will happen so. But they are scared due to their desperation. And criticising the Election Commission is not the right thing in a democracy,” Rupani said while addressing reporters at Gandhinagar.
Prasad said “It is absolutely absurd. It’s like questioning the prudence of the EC. The Congress is perhaps speaking out of its own experience where interference in the functioning of constitutional bodies used to be a thing in their rule. Such is not the case since 2014,” he had said.
Elections to the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly would take place on November 9 and the results would be out on December 18. The Commission has said the polls to the 182 strong Gujarat assembly would be held before December 18 so that results of Himachal Pradesh polls do not influence voting in Gujarat. The poll schedule for Himachal Poll was announced by the EC on October 12 but held back announcing poll dates for Gujarat.