- It was always expected that the ongoing assembly elections in the states and UT of West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry would be anything but peaceful as the narrative of every political party has undergone a sea change over the years. People of the country have accepted that the political parties will not desist from raking up heavily polarized viewpoints whipping up communal cards, partisanship, alongside caste cards to consolidate cultivated vote banks. The only issue that really should be under consideration viz. developmental issues sadly get lost in the charged-up tales sucking in the gullible people into the vortex of irrelevance.
PC: Skymet
- The agency tasked to ensure free and fair elections, the Election Commission of India, has set an appreciable standard of undertaking mammoth exercises of conducting polls all these years. To its credit, the election commission has never failed the country whilst carrying out the challenging exercise of ensuring nothing fishy and large-scale untoward incidents mars the time-tested poll processes. It is also a given fact that many political parties, whether national or regional, are bound to raise questions about the impartiality of the constitutionally mandated independent organization staying true vis-à-vis neutrality during the electioneering processes. We know it.
- Here again, the election commission has acquitted admirably staying above petty bigotry while undertaking poll-related challenges despite mounting pressures from all sides. Though challenges remain, the EC is expected to essay the role of adjudicator as well as an enforcer of poll-related codes of conduct including but not restricted to appointing, transferring, and withdrawing of officials as well as observers entrusted with the responsibility of conducting the elections. Filing complaints and counter-complaints during the entire process of polling is quite a norm. More so when the high-stake election like Bengal garners tremendous attention for their sheer criticality.
PC: Chava Sanchez
- As the BJP is going all-out to make its maiden presence in Bengal’s electoral history, the ruling TMC headed by the maverick and mercurial supremo is equally up to the task leaving no stone unturned in staying relevant. Consequently, the much-abhorred violence is slowly creeping into the polling scenario resulting in deaths, destructions, and fear amongst the electorate. An increasingly vitriolic diatribe against each other is being played out in full spectacle reducing the polling process into a veritable warzone where both the belligerent parties are pitted as main opponents. None are willing to concede an inch as the one-upmanship takes precedence.
- There is an immediate necessity to cool the temperatures and the two main political parties should take steps to initiate measures for the sake of the electorate as well as to uphold the tenets of fair elections in the remaining five phases. The primary responsibility of the EC is to ensure the protection of voters and contesting candidates from physical harm. Thus, the EC in its wisdom should co-opt the political leaders from both sides now to impress upon the need to halt violence at once to uphold the sanctity of peaceful voting. Allowing to drift on the narrative would only pave way for more violence thereby defeating the very purpose of conducting the elections, i.e., to ensure the win of democracy.
