WOULD EASY GO THE E.C?

 

 

With the elections approaching, the Election Commission (EC) comes up with its election code of conduct and its commandments of dos and don’ts. Defacing of the walls, ostentatious show of wealth are a strict no-no as far. But then, who’s listening? Particularly in Punjab.

With barely a week to go for the Assembly polls in the State, the flaunting of wealth is becoming apparent. Would the blatant transgressions of EC’s guidelines be far behind? As per rule, the EC has set a limit of Rs 10 lakh as election expenditure for the candidates. But then, this is in the danger of being flouted in a majority of the constituencies. With the EC posting two observers in each constituency to detect any transgression, one wonders on the quantitative mechanism they would use to calculate whether the election expenditure of a candidate has exceeded Rs 10 lakhs or not! Just for interesting records, while Chief Minister Amrinder Singh’s family has declared assets worth Rs 90 crore, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bibi Jagir Kaur's assets are worth Rs 80 crore. Not to be left behind, Shiromani Akali Dal President and former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's assets are worth Rs 9 crore. The BJP leader and former cricketer Navjot Sidhu has assets worth Rs 14 crore. Interestingly, both Badal and Amrinder have levelled corruption charges against each other. Says Janardan Dwivedi, General Secretary, Congress, “Amrinder belongs to a princely State but from where has Badal amassed such wealth?" Badal’s follower, Sukhwinder Dhindsa, levels similar charges, “Amrinder was accused of being corrupt by his own party leaders. Not us!"

The money game can continue. But with one of the wealthiest states going to the polls, one wishes the EC would stay true to its objectives, and not necessarily to its 'easy' acronym. Extremely strict examples need to be set, and there's no better opportunity than this!