There’s need to cap spend by parties, but all have to come on board: CEC Sushil Chandra

Did EC miscalculate the pandemic threat in the Bengal polls vis a vis UP?

There was no miscalculation because no one can predict the speed or spread or scale of the pandemic. Adequate precautions were taken then. Voters per booth were reduced and once we saw an increase in Covid numbers, we cut down processions. But people were not vaccinated. There was no direct relationship between the rallies and the pandemic. In this round of elections, we took steps right from when the elections were announced on January 8. Our polling staff was vaccinated. We took weekly inputs from the health ministry and the chief secretaries of poll-going states. We had a clear conservation on the need to ramp up vaccination and the health ministry coordinated with adequate supply of doses. We banned rallies from January 8 due to low vaccination and allowed graded relaxations as vaccination went up and cases came down.

Weren’t similar talks held last year?

We did have consultations with the health ministry. But it was felt that holding open rallies would not contribute to the pandemic (spread). The cases were low when polls were announced. In Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, nothing untoward happened. In Bengal, numbers were the lowest when polls were announced. The moment it surged, we curtailed rallies.

Political parties allege the EC is the government’s handmaiden.

EC will never be biased against any party. These are baseless allegations. If you see MCC action, FIRs filed, you will see that they are against all parties. It is wrong to say that the EC works to anyone’s advantage. Whenever any party comes to us, we have always heard them. In these elections, 12 meetings took place — five with the Congress, three each with the SP and BJP, one with AITC. Action has been taken where we feel that level playing field is disturbed. Our policies are transparent as is our treatment of parties.

These elections saw strong digital campaigning. Does it pave the way for digital voting in future?

Technologically, remote voting is feasible. The day it happens, it will be a mature decision. However, that decision has to be in sync with the minds of voters and to the satisfaction of political parties. Since 2004, we have been holding elections using EVMs — four Lok Sabha elections and 137 assembly elections have been held so far. Even today, you have people saying that EVMs can be hacked. The political party that loses always blames EVMs. Hence, parties have to be in sync for any decision on digital voting.

Won’t incidents like the Varanasi EVM controversy raise doubts?

Public perception is not that. This is only when political parties start creating a narrative, a false perception. There are three types of EVMs — the polled EVMs which are under three-tier security, under video surveillance and attended by representatives of political parties. Then there are training machines for staff and demo machines for voter awareness. No polling EVM has ever come out in Varanasi. No polling EVM has ever been compromised in any way. Training was to be held for the staff as it was the last day of poll. This was a complete misrepresentation.

How effective is EC in controlling illegal money in elections?

We are taking steps to check black money and distribution of freebies. In these elections, we seized ‘1,062 cr worth of cash, narcotics and freebies. We have empowered citizens through CVIgil app to upload violations. 47,000 complaints came on our app and 40,000 were correct and the EC took action. More, however, can be done. While we have an expenditure ceiling for candidates and the EC monitors the same, there is no such ceiling for parties. Hence, they are able to spend any amount. There should be some change in that so that there is a level playing field for all parties. Only then can the EC monitor this spending. We have not discussed it so far, but all parties will have to be on board for this move.

What about electoral bonds?

There are two aspects to it — financial transparency and electoral transparency. Why was it thought of in the first place? It was felt that clean money will come to political parties through cheques and banking processes. But from the EC point of view, the donor’s name is missing which is against transparency. The issue is before SC.

There are concerns around Aadhaar-voter ID linkage.

No one will be deprived of enrolment for want of an Aadhaar number. The linkage is only to clean our roll position.

When can we expect elections in Jammu & Kashmir?

There are two different issues. One, completion of the delimitation process and the other is conduct of elections by the ECI. The delimitation panel’s term ends on May 6 and we will be able to complete that exercise by then. After that, ECI will update its electoral roll, review the feasibility of conducting polls, the security in J&K and then decide the poll schedule.

What about objections to the delimitation panel’s draft proposals?

The main objection of the associate members is that it should be done on the basis of population. However, Section 9 of the Delimitation Act, states that as far as possible assembly constituencies (are concerned) they must be geographically compact but consideration must be given to four other parameters — the physical features of the area, public convenience, communication and administrative units of the area.

Consider Gurez, which was given a constituency of just 30,000 people as it was on a hill. Its physical features were such that it could not be merged with any other constituency. Similarly, we saw a huge disparity in population. In Kishtwar, it is 29 persons per sq km while it is 3,400 persons per sq km in Srinagar. How can the same standard be applied to both?

What about the controversy over including areas from Jammu in the new Anantnag parliamentary constituency?

Ultimately, it is one Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, it cannot be divided into two zones. We are seeing it as one unit. There are 90 assembly constituencies (ACs) and five parliamentary constituencies (PCs) and we have tried to ensure division so that there are 18 ACs in each PC — hence Anantnag’s composition.

What about demands for representation from Kashmiri Pandits?

Many representations came from different organisations. We cannot create a constituency on the basis of religion.

What happens to voters from West Pakistan who had no voting rights earlier due to Article 370 and the 25 PoK seats?

Once the delimitation exercise is over and whenever summary revision is conducted, anyone who is eligible will be enrolled since Article 370 is not in effect any longer. The 24 POK seats will remain as it is because we are doing delimitation of the 90 assembly seats.

Your views on ‘one nation, one poll’ idea?

The idea is good. There is no problem provided the same is decided by Parliament. If we want simultaneous polls in 2024, a constitutional amendment will have to be made.

Why was there controversy over EC attending a meeting with the PMO?

It was on the reforms. The meeting took place with EC team and we said if the government still needed to be convinced on the proposed reforms, the Commission will explain. What is the illegality in speaking for five minutes?