Gyanesh Kumar Should Be Given a Padma For a Job Well Done

On April 8 a delegation of Trinamool Congress met the Election Commission to raise concerns over the neutrality of the electoral process. The meeting lasted barely seven minutes and the Trinamool delegation accused chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of asking them to get out of his office. What exactly transpired is a matter of contending versions but it does seem the Trinamool delegation’s idea was less to submit facts or complaints and more to indulge in grandstanding in keeping with the party’s attacks on the Election Commission for alleged bias and high handedness.

The CEC decided that he would not put up with the patent attempt to play to the gallery and cut short the histrionics by asking the Trinamool delegation to leave. Quite extraordinarily, the EC followed the acrimonious exchange with a post on social media forcefully asserting that the election in West Bengal will be free of any fear, violence, intimidation, inducement and without any booth jamming and source jamming. The post drew attention as the EC actions was clearly deliberate.

A turning point

Looking back, the brief and tense showdown and EC’s post thereafter might mark a turning point in the West Bengal poll. Irrespective of the results, the EC demonstrated it will not be harangued and brow-beaten by partisan political considerations and aggressive behaviour. In doing so, the commission sent out a loud message to political parties and voters that polling will be conducted in an atmosphere free of intimidation and that mafias, local strongmen and criminals will be kept at bay.

On April 23, the EC kept its word and barring a few incidents – there could have been many more -- the supervision of the poll body and the intensive deployment of central forces ensured peaceful polling. The 93% turnout and zero repolling are testimony that voters exercised their right in record numbers. This time around the central forces are expected to remain in the state for a while after elections in order to ensure there is no repeat of what happened in 2021 when voters who opposed the ruling establishment were set upon and had to flee their homes in hundreds and remain away for weeks on end. It might be fair to say that elections in West Bengal have turned a page.

A cleansed electoral roll

The April 29 second and concluding phase of the assembly elections remain a challenge but hopefully the security forces have figured out what they need to do. The high turn out goes hand in hand with a staggering 3.3 crore voters exercising their franchise. The high numbers reflect confidence of electors in casting their votes and passing off the high turnout percentage as a factor of a pruned electoral roll is an expedient explanation. The special intensive revision (SIR) in West Bengal was particularly contentious and while the adjudication process and the “logical inconsistencies” mechanism have been criticised, the blatant non-cooperation of local authorities complicated the revision of voter lists to no small extent forcing the judiciary to intervene.

There might well be a reason why there were a higher number of discrepancies in the West Bengal voter list. The state has borne the brunt of an influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh many of whom have been able to procure Aadhar, voter identity and ration cards. Many such persons have been able to access welfare benefits as well. The mismatches in names, age, familial associations can reflect inaccuracies that creep in when documents are forged and not properly verified. The election commission has a mandate to establish the purity of the electoral roll and everyone needs to comply with eligibility criteria to be voters. The right to vote is intrinsically linked to citizenship.

CEC shows the way

Rather than facing a notice of impeachment that the INDIA bloc parties have submitted afresh in Parliament, the CEC should be congratulated for a job well done and be considered for a Padma award. That would be the right way to recognise Gyanesh Kumar’s sterling example of devotion to duty. His preparedness to stand up attempts to heckle and bully him into submission shows the way to government officials, constitutional authorities and members of the judiciary who are caught in the cross hairs of political battles and attract the ire of overbearing politicians and partisan commentators.