"Falls Short Of Free, Fair Elections": Congress On Guidelines Amid Covid

The Congress has criticised the Election Commission's guidelines on holding elections amid the coronavirus pandemic as "falling far short for the conduct of free, fair and independent elections".

Candidates can file nominations and deposit security money online, the Election Commission said in the 12-page document, among other new measures to minimise COVID-19 threat while holding elections.

"The Election Commission of India's Guidelines… fall far short for the conduct of free, fair and independent elections in times of coronavirus infections and in ensuring the smooth conduct of elections in free, non-partisan and fair fashion without giving undue advantage to the ruling party," Congress MP and general secretary KC Venugopal said in a statement.

"Despite having sought comments from political parties such as the Indian National Congress and in response to which detailed recommendations were given, the ECI (Election Commission of India) has overlooked almost all the suggestions given and prepared guidelines that are inadequate in dealing with the challenge of COVID-19," Mr Venugopal said.

He said the Congress after careful consultation had asked for paper ballots as use of shared electronic voting machines (EVMs) could spread coronavirus infection. "The ECI has completely failed to address this concern, instead opting to passively state that EVMs and VVPATs (voter-verifiable paper trail) machines will be sanitised. As the last six months have established, this is not a fool-proof measure," Mr Venugopal said.

The Election Commission's guidelines say provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the Indian Penal Code will be used against anyone who violates the guidelines.

"However, the ECI has surprisingly missed the potential for abuse by the ruling party which controls the policing machinery. For example, where members of a crowd in a political gathering violate the rules, how does the ECI ensure that the candidate will be indemnified from unjust penalty or harassment?" Mr Venugopal said.

Elections are due in later this year in Bihar, which has reported 1.15 lakh coronavirus cases and over 570 deaths till now. The Election Commission, however, has not made any announcement about the schedule.

In Bihar, except Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and the BJP, almost all major political parties have demanded that elections be postponed due to the coronavirus threat.

A maximum of 1,000 voters can be present at any polling booth at a time, and every voter's body temperature will be checked before the person is allowed to enter the booth, the Election Commission said today.