Election Commission rules out change in Bengal poll schedule, gives reasons to TMC & Congress

The Election Commission on Wednesday rejected the Trinamool Congress’ demand to hold polling in the remaining 112 assembly constituencies in West Bengal at one go in view of the raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The EC also rejected the demand of the Congress for postponement of the remaining phases of polling in view of both Covid-19 pandemic and the holy month of Ramzan.

The commission wrote to Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien on Wednesday, pointing out that since it had now extended the campaign silence period from 48 hours to 72 hours before the end of the voting in every phase, West Bengal would in fact witness no electioneering between 6-30 p.m. on April 26 – the date of seventh phase polling – and the conclusion of the eight and last phase polling on April 29.

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O’Brien had written to the EC on Tuesday, reiterating the Trinamool Congress’s opposition to long-drawn eight-phase polling in West Bengal. He had also urged the commission to club the remaining three phases of polling in the state.

“You are aware that scheduling for an election is an activity planned much in advance, taking complex interplay of variety of factors ranging from optimal utilisation of resources, manpower and training thereof, logistic involved in the mammoth exercise, voter's convenience, festivals. etc. and assessment of prevailing law and order situations,” the EC wrote to the Trinamool Congress leader on Wednesday.

The commission also drew O’Brien’s attention to the Section 30 (d) of the Representation of People’s Act (RP Act), 1951, which specifies that “the date or dates on which poll shall, if necessary, be taken, which or the first of which shall be a date not earlier than the fourteenth day after the last date for the withdrawal of candidatures”.

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“Keeping this statutory requirement in view, notifications of the schedule of elections have been issued, in which at least 14 days period has been prescribed for each phase of poll. Each phase of election is distinct and notified separately u/s 30 of the RP Act, 1951,” the EC wrote to O’Brien.

The EC on April 16 last curtailed time for campaigning for the remaining phases of the assembly polls in West Bengal in view of the surge in cases of SARS-CoV-2 viral infection in the state as well as across the country. The commission barred campaigning between 7 p.m. and 10 a.m. for the constituencies, which would go to polls on Thursday, April 26 and April 29 next. The poll-panel also extended the campaign silence period from 48 hours to 72 hours for the last three phases of polling in the state.

The poll-panel also responded to a letter Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the president of the West Bengal unit of the Congress, had written to it, demanding postponement of the polling for the last three phases of voting in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and the holy month of Ramzan.

The EC stated that it was mandated under the Constitution of India to complete the electoral process before the end of the term of the current assembly of West Bengal on May 30. “Any postponement of scheduled elections would affect adherence to constitutional and statutory provisions related to timely conduct of elections,” the poll-panel wrote to Chowdhury.

It pointed out that it had made adequate arrangement to strictly adhere to Covid-19 safety protocols during the voting as well as for counting on May 2.