Election Commission delays time of announcing poll dates; Congress says presser rescheduled to accommodate Modi's Ajmer rally

The Election Commission, which was due to announce the polling schedule in four election-bound states at 12.30 pm on Saturday afternoon, has rescheduled the time of its press conference to 3 pm. [caption id=“attachment_5310921” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala. ANI[/caption] However, the move has garnered much attention as Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala hinted in a tweet that the shift in time schedules was only to accommodate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Ajmer rally. While Surjewala was careful not to lay any direct allegations on the Election Commission which is an independent body under the constitutional statute, he did insinuate that the hurried change in the timing of presser was because it clashed with the prime minister’s rally in poll-bound Rajasthan. He tweeted:

According to the Election Commission rules, the Model Code of Conduct kicks in right after the dates of polling are announced in a state. The MCC has several sections regulating the canvassing process ahead of the election, including the announcement of populist schemes by the ruling dispensation just in the run-up to the polls. Modi who will address a rally in Ajmer, marking the end of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s Gaurav Yatra is likely to make some last minute announcements to woo the voters. Moreover, Surjewala’s allegations are important in view of the fact that earlier too, there was a controversy relating to the announcement of poll dates. In March this year, the Opposition had accused the poll panel of  leaking the dates of Karnataka elections to the ruling party when BJP’s Information and Technology cell head Amit Malviya tweeted the dates of Karnataka election and counting before the Election Commission could announce it through a press conference. The claim was fiercely contested by the ruling party, which in turn, pointed out a tweet put out by another Congress worker 15 minutes before the election schedule was announced. The poll panel reacted by launching an enquiry into the alleged leak. Both the BJP and Congress in turn defended their social media satraps by saying they caught the dates through some media reports. The poll panel will announce the election dates in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram at 3 pm today. It is also likely to declare the election schedule for Telangana where Chief Minister (interim) K Chandrashekar Rao dissolved the Assembly in September, in favour of early polls. With inputs from PTI