‘ECI actions not transparent, not trustworthy’ 

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has not only been partial in its actions but is also not transparent in its functioning and that remains the biggest challenge to electoral democracy today, transparency activist and co-convenor, National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) Anjali Bhardwaj said on Sunday.

While elections in the country had been largely free and fair for a long time, challenges in the functioning and conduct of the poll body have become problematic in the past seven or eight years, she observed.

Speaking at the 14th memorial lecture event to commemorate Telangana ideologue Professor Jayashankar, and senior journalist Zaheeruddin Ali Khan of Siasat Daily, organised by Telangana Vidyavathula Vedika here at Osmania University, Ms. Bhardwaj spoke about challenges to electoral democracy in India.

“Just before 2019 elections, NaMo TV came as BJP’s propaganda tool and it vanished just like that after the polls. The ECI acted selectively on Model Code violations; and regarding special intensive revision in Bihar it has maintained complete secrecy, deleted about 65 lakh voters or an average 27,000 voters per constituency, or simply changing the electoral outcome,” she put.

Ms. Bhardwaj, pointing to the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment on the appointment process of Election Commissioners, said it was undone by the Executive and gave the ruling government more influence. And adding more doubts to ECI’s credibility is it’s reasoning not to reveal the absolute voter turnout, CCTV footage, and the many unanswered questions over alleged discrepancies in the rolls.

NALSAR University of Law Vice-Chancellor Srikrishna Deva Rao in his lecture explained transformative constitutionalism as a framework to bring about an equal and democratic society, while exemplifying constitutional morality, and understanding inclusion, diversity and coexistence in a cosmopolitan like Hyderabad.

He applied transformative constitutionalism through examples from the life of late Professor Jayashankar, Supreme Court invocations since the 1970s, and how, amid various threats to the democratic scheme of the country, it could be a forward-looking project while relying upon constitutional values as the guide.