PAUL Altair, sometime American election pundit, once said that winning elections was essentially looking behind your back to see what your rival or rivals were doing. And then rat on them or catch them with their pants round their knees.
PAUL Altair, sometime American election pundit, once said that winning elections was essentially looking behind your back to see what your rival or rivals were doing. And then rat on them or catch them with their pants round their knees.
While nobody has really been caught with their trousers down in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, there has been plenty of ratting. There is a pending complaint against Madhavrao Scindia for organising a day-and-night cricket match at Gwalior on April 22 between the visiting South African under-19 team and the Indian colts. In the Outer Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, Congress candidate Sajjan Kumar is accusing BJP Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma of utilising official machinery to organise campaign funds. The BJP is objecting strongly to the airing of Rajesh Khanna films while the campaign is on. Khanna is pitted against former J&K governor Jagmohan in the New Delhi constituency.
For some like Kumar, the Election Commission (EC) code can also be cause for much panic. Allowed only three cars for campaigning, his camp went into a flutter last week when a convoy of vehicles sporting the Congress flags joined it. The matter was duly reported to the local police station.
While the Commission is acting as the main watchdog with its video teams in each constituency working under the supervision of the returning officer, the intimation from the local police, who are their sole source of intelligence, often reaches them late. Says S.S. Gill, additional returning officer for Delhi's Outer Delhi constituency with its spread of 21 assembly segments: "We also get the schedules of only Congress or BJP candidates. Rarely of other parties or any of the independents. Often the rallies are over before we reach there."
This has resulted in parties themselves keeping a check on each other for poll violations. In Bombay, for instance, the BJP has lodged a complaint against Gurudas Kamat, an independent candidate from the Northeast constituency, for posting one lakh letters to voters. Says Kirit Somaiya, city president of the BJP: "Kamat is trying to wriggle out by saying that the letter carries a March 30 dateline which is before he filed his nominations, but the postmarks of delivery are April 2-4."
The BJP is also sore with the airing of two programmes on Zee TV on April 5 and 6, respectively, on Praful Patel, the Congress candidate in Bandra. "They spoke of his achievements alone. If you take the commercial value of these programmes, it would tip Rs 60 lakh," says Kamat.
The BJP itself has come under a lot of flak. The Janata Dal unit in the state is picking holes in the party's campaign. Says Ankush Bhalekar, state vice-president of the party: "The sitting Vidarbha MP, who is also the chairman of Maharashtra State Cotton Federation, announced on April 10 the exemption of loans of cotton growers upto March 31. This is a blatant violation of the rules of conduct."
But while the EC has, in the words of Election Commissioner M.S. Gill, "introduced a dampener into the proceedings", most of the candidates are supportive of the code. Says Khanna: "The nuisance value has gone. For so long I have been used to loudspeakers and disco lights on stages. Now it's so strange. But welcome."
Khanna is, however, sceptical of the Rs 4.5 lakh expense limit set by the EC. Though the Commission tried to raise the limit to Rs 15 lakh per candidate, the government backtracked. "I would like to meet the candidate who spends only this much," says Khanna tongue-in-cheek.
The limit sounds even more ludicrous when we take into account constituencies like Outer Delhi. Says R.P. Singh, BJP worker in the constituency "The more visible spending like posters, loudspeakers, tents and hoardings might be out because of the EC but who is there to keep a tab on under-the-table spends? Blocks of voters are asking for money now. For parties, there is little option."
While Gill says that the Commission won't resort to being "petty audit babus" when the parties submit their accounts within a month after elections, the latter are being cautious enough to issue strict internal guidelines. The Congress, for instance, has asked candidates to spend only Rs 3.5 lakh from the total amount allocated to it to provide for a buffer in case some of the party's expenses have to be transferred to a candidate's account.
But nothing illustrates the change in electioneering methods better than Chief Minister Jayalalitha resorting to mime after midnight because of the ban imposed on loudspeakers after 12. The sound of silence, she may discover, is deafening. For, the echoes will get back soon enough.
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