Unified EC with Rajiv Kumar at the helm expected to take clear, strong calls
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar is at the wheel as India heads for the election to the 18th Lok Sabha, having already helmed seven assembly elections --from the high-voltage campaign in Karnataka and Telangana to the Naxal hotbed in Chhattisgarh and the polarised poll of Tripura. He is uniquely placed vis-a-vis his predecessors.
As against the divided, dissenting house that went to Lok Sabha elections 2019 — split in the middle right into the final counting day — Kumar is now said to be backed by a unified Commission ahead of the 2024 LS polls.
This offers a chance that 2024 could see a united Commission taking strong and clear calls. The seven preceding assembly polls may be good indicators of this.
ACTION ON THE GROUND
Amid the polls in five states, the Centre announced the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra deploying officials as 'Rath Prabharis' to poll-bound states.
The poll panel barred the yatra in poll-going states and the Centre quickly moved to clarify that 'rath' was a misrepresentation.
Alongside, it also revoked permission given to KCR-led Bhartiya Rashtra Samiti from disbursing under the ongoing Rythu Bandhu scheme as a sitting minister 'advertised' it.
The EC wasted little time in issuing transfer orders where it found any possibility of the ruling party queering the pitch. The tone was set in BJP bastion Gujarat where the chief secretary was served a notice for failing to issue the required transfer orders to officials for election hygiene.
