EC’s order shows power of India’s constitutional bodies

NEW DELHI: It’s not often that the Election Commission( EC) burns the midnight oil to resolve a dramatic electoral battle.

On Tuesday, however, it did and in doing so, political experts believe it lay down a milestone for its journey.

The commission dismissed the votes of two Congress defectors, who had reportedly shown their ballot papers to rival B JP leaders during the Gujarat Rajya Sabha by-elections on Tuesday. The decision resulted in a close victory for one of Congress’ chief strategists, Ahmed Patel.

N Gopalaswami, former EC chief, compared the role played by the commission on Tuesday to interventions such as when the Congress was divided in 1969 and the symbol distribution of erst- while Janata Party factions.

Former parliamentary affairs secretary Afzal Amanullah maintained that the panel was a “shining star in the night” and its order scrapping the two votes of Congress rebels shows the power of India’s constitutional bodies.

Amanullah pointed out that it was rare for senior leaders such as finance minister A ru nJ a it ley, PC hi dam bar am, and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to rush to the EC to argue a case “related to one seat in one state election”.

“The facts speak for themselves. The EC gave a patient hearing. It could have easily asked the parties to only give written memorandum ,” Go pa laswami told Hindustan Times.

An official working closely with the Aam Aadmi Party government too acknowledged the pivotal role of the EC. “The poll body had been at the receiving end of criticism over many issues like the tampering of EV Ms. The order will certainly silence many of its critics,” the official said.

The A AP was one of the parties that had questioned the quality of voting machines after state elections earlier this year.

Go pal a swami pointed out that EC’s quoting of the Supreme Court judgment in the Kuldip Nay y ar case was important as“it is the only order that clearly says that the voter can show his paper to only his party agent”.

“A combined reading of the Rules 39A and 39AA will show that the rule is very clear that the elector has to show his ballot paper only to the authorised representative of his party and to no one else ,” the EC said on Tuesday. Thus, “the two electors violated the voting procedure of secrecy of the ballot papers when they exercised their right to vote ”.