Poll campaign cut-off is a fiction, run right into the voting hour

Mumbai: By law, the campaign for all elections has to end 48 hours before the ending of the hour fixed for the conclusion of polling. In Maharashtra, as in Haryana, it was to cease on the evening of Monday, for which the polling commenced on Wednesday. One reason for this bar against canvassing for votes after a specified cut-off time is to provide the voter an opportunity to contemplate all options the options about a party and a candidate without the intrusion of the ever-increasing volume of campaign noise that pester, seeking the voters’ favour. In the context of opinion polls the Election Commission had said in 1998 that they “receive wide publicity and coverage” and “on the eve of polls, has the potential to influence the electors when they are in the mental process of making up of their minds to vote or not to vote for a certain political party or a candidate”.[caption id=“attachment_1758193” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image: PTI[/caption] The idea is to let them mull in the quiet. But that is denied to them. Now, specific to Maharashtra, all political parties dutifully ended their campaigns this time too as they do every election – speeches, roadshows etc. by 5 pm the day before yesterday. But on ground, the campaign continued, the best evidence being the newspaper advertisements carried today. Some were full page in-your-face wrap-around in colour. The voter-readers got their newspapers on their door steps this morning even as the polling booths opened, and queues may have been formed, but most others must have been mulling their options even as they bent down to pick up the day’s newspaper. And there, the advertisements hit you keeping the campaign alive seamlessly even as the voting began. It has to be recognised that while each party has its core base, most election results are the outcome of the choices the floating voters, those who go by developments in the country or the state, their perception of the incumbency factor, the notions of the index of opposition unity or lack thereof. They need space to think. Some do even as they wall to the booth. The Election Commission, which requires accounts to be submitted for advertisements, being a campaign expense, is going to count them as well, not only those which were published till 5 pm, Monday. If that was so, how is it possible to imagine that the campaign had ended 36 hours prior to them turning up again in newspapers, and on the day of voting? If contending parties and candidates plan their last public meetings to conclude before the Monday evening cut-off, it is also a fact that the advertisements were planned and space bought much earlier. That means it is part of the campaign. The BJP, for instance, had one which extensively quoted from an interview of Prithviraj Chavan published in Kolkata-based The Telegraph on Tuesday morning. It was a quick lobbing of the ball in terms of the content, the full-page advertisement, in full colour, was evidently put together only on Tuesday, much after the campaign had officially ended. Since space is bought, specific to the page and position for maximum impact, and much earlier too in bulk to deny a rival an opportunity to grab it, the campaign plan included use of advertisements on Wednesday as well. Other parties too had advertisements though of smaller sizes, some extolling the virtues of the party, some of the candidates as well. This runs afoul of the Section 126 of the Representation of People Act, 1951. It is explicit: there shall be no display to the public any election matter by means of cinematograph, television or other similar apparatus. Such advertisements are nothing but “election matter”, as much as the continued display of banners, posters and bill boards put up earlier on roads and other public spaces. They are much more freely accessible by the public than the ones displayed in newspapers, even as voting continues. One recalls the Election Commission’s advisory in February 2012 to television and radio outlets asking them not to violate the provisions of Section 126 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 which prohibits display of poll matter during 48 hours before end of voting. But it did not, in its wisdom, take into account the same thing being done by newspapers. That advisory said, “The Commission once again reiterates that the TV/Radio channels and cable networks should ensure that the contents of programmes telecast/broadcast/displayed by them during the period of 48 hours referred to in Section 126 do not contain any material, including views/appeals by panellists / participants that may be construed as promoting/prejudicing the prospect of any particular party or candidate[s] or influencing/affecting the result of the election.” It is during the next 24 hours after the so-called-close of the campaign that many parties take to holding press conferences which are also televised live. They either reiterate what was said during the weeks of the rough and tumble of the canvassing for votes or add some more to it. No party misses using – or perhaps misusing - this interval to its advantage. The media oblige. Of course there are other things proscribed so that the elections are free and fair. One is giving and accepting bribes, which despite the ban, is freely indulged in. The cash, which of late is getting larger by each election, is an evidence of planned bribery, though those who know – candidates, voters, and officials – concede is only a tip of the iceberg. Buying votes is as commonplace as asking for votes and it is done with abandon, with hardly a handful of cases, if ever, which have led to punitive action. Corrupt practices are widespread. Media have citied the price for a vote from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 apart from other freebies generally offered to all and sundry. The fact that haldi-kumkum suddenly become a poll-time event is a clear pointer. The other day, they seized kitchen pans meant to be given away. All offences are punishable, ether by fine or imprisonment. Not just a censure in most cases.