Election Commission of India NAME OF TIlE NEWS PAPER HINDUSTAN TIMES DATE: • SY Quraishi TAMIL NADU, BENGAL CREATE HISTORY WITH HIGHEST POLLING Chetan Chauhan • [email protected]'. r; • ••• ;. NEW DELHI: A wind of change could have been the reason behind West Bengal and Tamil Nadu recording highest polling in their electoral history. West Bengal polled 84.46 % and Tamil Nadu 78.80 % in the recently conducted polls. Post-poll sur- veys have predicted rout of CPI(M}-led Left Front in West Bengal and the DMK unlikely- to retain power in Tamil Nadu. Women voters appear to have played an important role in West Bengal, where the high- est polling had been in 1996 of 82.94 %. "Their participation in Bengal polls was higher than men," said chief election com- missioner SY Quraishi. Much before the polls were announced, the commission had implemented an elaborate plan to improve voter participation. In late 2010, a survey in each of the five states - Assam, Kerala,Puducherry, Tamil nadu and West Bengal - to under- stand knowledge, attitude, behaviour and practices of vot- ers. From beginning of this year, the commission started work- ing on findings of the survey, which cited distance of the polling booths, congestion at the booths and intimidation as rea- sons for not voting. A senior official said a spe- ,.. cial officer was appointed in. each state to remove the barri- ers and thousands of new polling booths were set up to facilitating voters. "For the first time election commission officialsdistributed voter slips to each voter at their homes and it acted as reminder to them to come and vote," the official said. The cominission's efforts not only created a record in two states, voting percentages also increased in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry. Another high, indicating abuse of money,was also report- edfrom Tamil Nadu and Bengal. In Thmil Nadu, ~60.10crore was selied and ~8.35 crore from Bengal ofthe total ~4.27 crore • seized during polls in five states. >II 1 2. MAY 20" L ..
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Election Commission of IndiaNAME OF TIlE NEWS PAPER HINDUSTAN TIMES DATE:
• SY Quraishi
TAMIL NADU,BENGAL CREATEHISTORY WITHHIGHEST POLLINGChetan Chauhan• [email protected]
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NEW DELHI: A wind of changecould have been the reasonbehind West Bengal and TamilNadu recording highest pollingin their electoral history. WestBengal polled 84.46% and TamilNadu 78.80 % in the recentlyconducted polls. Post-poll sur-veys have predicted rout ofCPI(M}-led Left Front in WestBengal and the DMK unlikely-to retain power in Tamil Nadu.
Women voters appear tohave played an important rolein West Bengal, where the high-est polling had been in 1996 of82.94 %. "Their participation inBengal polls was higher thanmen," said chief election com-missioner SY Quraishi.
Much before the polls wereannounced, the commission hadimplemented an elaborate planto improve voter participation.
In late 2010,a survey in eachof the five states - Assam,Kerala,Puducherry, Tamil naduand West Bengal - to under-stand knowledge, attitude,behaviour and practices ofvot-ers. From beginning of this year,the commission started work-ing on findings of the survey,which cited distance of thepollingbooths, congestion at thebooths and intimidation as rea-sons for not voting.
A senior official said a spe-,.. cial officer was appointed in.
each state to remove the barri-ers and thousands of newpolling booths were set up tofacilitating voters.
"For the first time electioncommission officialsdistributedvoter slips to each voter at theirhomes and it acted as reminderto them to come and vote," theofficial said.
The cominission's efforts notonly created a record in twostates, voting percentages alsoincreased in Assam, Kerala andPuducherry.
Another high, indicatingabuse ofmoney,was also report-edfrom Tamil Nadu and Bengal.In Thmil Nadu, ~60.10crore wasselied and ~8.35 crore fromBengal ofthe total ~4.27 crore
• seized during polls in five states.>II
1 2. MAY 20"
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Election Commission of Indiar ·.ffiOFTHENEWSPAPER ~ ~ DATE:l 2 MAY 2011'
Election Commission of IndiaNAME or ·tIE NEWS PAPER· THE ECONOMIC TIMES DATE:
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/Chidambaram Right onBengal's Law & Order: CEC
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dambaram over his adverse com-ment on the law and order situa-tion in West Bengal may not betaken too kindly by the Left,which had raised objectionsagainst his criticism.The CEC's confirmation of the
poor law and order situation inOUR POLITICAL BUREAU West Bengal came even as heNEW DELHI thanked the state governments of .The Election Commission has allfive states that wentto polls forbackedHomeMinisterPChidam- "co-operating" with EC's effortsbaram's recent remarks on poor to keep the election free and fair.law and order in West Bengal, say- "Probably he was Stating that the situation in
, ing that he was only reflecting a referrln. to the widely West Bengal had been bothering"widely held opinion". held opinion. Law& order EC for a month and a half beforeThe Commission added that law situation Is a concern In polls, Quraishi said the high
and order concerns forced it to turnout and peaceful polling inschedule the polls over six phases West Bencal. That Is the the state was a "pleasant sur-and deploy large number of reason why we had six prise" in the end. He attributedforces in the Left-ruled state. phases of pollln&and this partly to the conversationsWhen asked to comment on the deployed SO much that the EC repeatedly had with
Left's criticism of PC's statement security In the state... political parties and partly to the- made at a press conference in co-operation of the state machin-Kolkata during a campaign visit Obvlously,amultl-phased eryandpollingpersonnel.last month - terming West Ben- poll was a small price to West Bengal recorded its high-gal as the worst-governed state in pay to ensure a free and est assembly poll turnout in his-terms of law and order, Chief falreledlofi" tory in the just-concluded elec-Election Commissioner (CEC)SY tion at 84.46%,a improvement ofQuraishi said the home minister 3.02%over the turnout clocked inhad not said anything wrong from SY QURAISHI 2006polls.poll point of view. CEC The peaceful polls were thanks"Probably he was referring to to the heavy deployment of Cen-
the widely held opinion. Lawand tral forces to ensure a free and tral para-military forces and theorder situation is a concern in fair poll in West Bengal and their tightened monitoring of crimi-West Bengal. That is the reason actual availability had forced the nals in the state prior to and dur-why we had six phases of polling EC to stagger the polling over six ing the poll. As many as 34,381and deployed so much security in phases and 23days. non-bailable warrants were exe-the state," Quraishi told a press "Obviously, a multi-phased poll cuted in the state over 3-4monthsconference here. What the CEC was a small price to pay to ensure prior to polling and over 70,000meant was that a large gulf be- a free and fair election," the CEC persons booked under Criminaltween the requirement of Cen- noted. The CEC's backing of Chi- Procedure Code. L111l1l11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111"""" •••••
Election panel saysPConly reflected a'widely held opinion'
Election Commission of IndiatT ~OFTIffiNEWSPAPER THE STATESMAN DATE: /1
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~ECworking on policy for .elecnonic media 13statesman news service polls, most of the channels are
owned by political parties. He said.NEW PELHI, 11 MAY:In a bid to these.channels would charige thekeep a check on 1V channels . complexion as they do not have toowned by political parties, the buy space on other channels.Chief Election Commissioner, Mr The EC admitted that it is a veryS Y Quraisbi, today said the Elec- complicated issue and it is makingtion Commission is working on . all its efforts to evolve '.guidelines for the electronic me- guidelines' so as to-keep checkdia to ensure a level playing field on misuse of visual media. "Weareto all. . considering it .and some guide-
Admitting that political parties- lines are being evolved. We don'towned 1V channels might misuse want to do anything in a haste,"them for political gains, Mr Qur- said the Election Commissioner,aishi said, "Weare also examining Mr V S Sampath.how to account for whether you Mr Quraishi also laid stress onare using your own channel for self-regu1ation by media arid polit-unlimited publicity. ~ are exam- ical parties on paid news. "Defini-
, ining it. Before the next elections, tion and identification of paidwewill have some policy in place". news needs to be concrete," he
Mr Quraishi pointed out that in added. On the issues of papersome of the states that wen.t to backup in the EVMs,the CEC said
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the two public sector companies, elections to Assam, Kerala, TamilBELand ECIl., have been asked to Nadu, West Bengal and the Uniondevelop the system which would territory of Puducherry. A three-be examined by the EC's expert tier security umbrella has beencommittee. He said the committee thrown around at counting halls.would test the paper trail backup The results are expected toin various weather conditions so pour in by noon on' Friday. Thethat the machines prove their vote count will take place at 839worth before they are put to use. counting halls and involve 43,982
The CEC also ruled out any officials'and nearly 17,700 centralmove to go for Internet-based vot- security personnel.ing. "It is out of the question and The CEC also said the commis-not feasible," he said. He, howev- .sion would videograph the count-er, asked political parties to make ing process, "Efficient and securebest use of Internet for bringing arrangements are in place fortransparency in their accounts. counting and declaration of reo"Political parties should pur-their . suits," he said.accounts on their websites,' he Mr Quraishi said counting .suggested. . would take place in 312 counting
Mr Quraishi said the Election halls in WestBengal, 142 in Assam,Commission is all geared up for 140 in KeraJa, 11 in Puducherrythe 13. May counting, of votes for and 234 in Tamil Nadu.
Election Commission of India 1. 2 1AY ZO,'.-1ME OFTIIENEWS PAPER THE nuDUNE DATE:
!INSIDENATIONCEC on electronic mediaAs the election corn-mission gears up forcounting of votes infive states on May 13,GEG SY Quraishi hastermed the highestever voter turnout as a"positive sign" while •the EG 'on Wednesdaymade it clear that it isworking on guidelinesfor the electronicmedia as several politi-cal parties own televi-
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Ee policy on electronic media soonTRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE Quraishi said "In some of
the states which went toNEW DELHI, MAY 11 polls most of the channelsAs the election commis- are owned by political par-sion gears up for counting ties," adding this wouldof votes in five states on deny other parties a level-May 13, The Chief playing field in theElection Commis- elections. He opinedsioner SY Quraishi, that television chan-has termed the nels owned by polit-highest ever voter ical parties wouldturn out as a "posi- change the complex-tive sign" while the ion as they do notEC today made it have to buy space onclear that it is work- SY Quraishi other channels. Theing on guidelines for elec- CEC, while talking ·to thetronic media as - several media this morning on thepolitical parties own televi- conduct of polls in the five
vision channels will be placebefore the next elections,
"We are also examiningwhetherusingyour own chan-nel for unlimited publicity,how to account for (expens-es)," he added. The problemof parties owning channels ormanipulating cable transmis-sion .networks on musclepower, has cropped in Punjabalso. The Congress and theAkalis level allegations ofmanipulation against eachother when in opposition.
He said high turnout inthe recently concludedAssembly polls in five
Election Commission of India -,NAME OF nm~ PAPER THE ASIAN AGE DATE: 21 ~AY 2011
/ Poll resu1~s.out bynoon tOJnorrow .;
. New Delhi: the outcome of .the Assembly polls for thefour states of West Be,ngal,Taniil Nadu. Kerala~ndAssam and' the Unt<?nTerritory of Pliduch~rty willbe known by Fri~ay after-.'noon, Chief Electl<;mC,?m:missioner S.Y. Quraishisaid here on Wednesday, '• Qetails on ~age 2 -/
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Election Commission of India'f '''i.,in:",.....•. ..-:
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S8 Y Isio beout by noon tomorrowAGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI
May 11: The outcome ofthe Assembly polls for thefour states of West Bengal,Tamil Nadu, KeralaandAssam and the Union Terri-tory of Puducherry would beknown by Friday noon whencounting would be taken upin all the'839 counting halls,Chief .'Election Commis-sioner (CEC) $.Y. Quraishistated this here on Wednes-
I day.A three-tier security
arrangement is already inplace where counting is tobe takenup at 8 am. A totalof 43,892 officials would beinvolved in the exercise. TheCEC said, "Efficient andsecure arrangements are inplace for counting and dec-laration of results." Theentire process would bevideographedto ensure thatno malpractice takes place.
Mr Quraishi said thatcounting would take placein 312 counting halls in
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West Bengal, 234 in TamilNadu, 140 in Kerala, 142 inAssam and 11 in Puducher-ry. He added that a comput--er centre would be function-al in all the counting halls.. Referring to the highturnout in the polls, MrQuraishi said that TamilNadu and West Bengal sur-passed their 2006 Assemblypoll figures by 11.26 percent and 3.04 per cent. Hesaid Kerala, Puducherry andWest Bengal also witnessedlargescale voting bywomen. On the issue ofoverseas voters, MrQuraishi said, out of the8,820 voters registered,4,639 of them exercisedtheir franchise in Kerala,One overseas 'citizen evencontested fromThodupuzhain Idukki district.
On the question of moneypower in polls, the CEC saida total of '{74.27 crores wasjointly seized by the EC andthe iricome-tax authorities.Tarriil Nadutopped the chartof with ,{6Q.l 0 crores.
Traders betohAIADMKJ. SHANMUGHASUNDARAM
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May 11: As the anguishedwait for the results of theApril 13 Assembly elec-tions is nearing a close,traders' here have startedplacing bets among them-selves and their customers.The AIADMK seems to bethe hot favourite among thetraders ahead of countingon Friday with most ofthem in Burma Bazaar bet-ting on the AIADMK andits allies.
When asked about thechallenges faced by the EC,he said voter indifference,security arrangements inNaxal-affected regions andpaid news were some of
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Election Commission of India"ffi OF THE NEWS PAPER
Ic..
THE TIMES OF INDIA DATE:
Wll '1,~By Jug SuraiyaU.,AAll~~rc~1 & Neelabh
(j irst es Its wi be outbefore Friday lunch: EC
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Election Com-mission is all set for countingof votes in the five states onFrfday It has set up 839 hallsin 294 locations in the fivestates which went to the pollsin which 14.16crore people-20% of the country's total elec-torate - voted in West Bengal,Tamil Nadu, Kerala,Puducherry and Assam.
Chief Election Commis-sioner SY QuraJsbi said onWednesday durmg the entireelection process, vote was notsought on communal andcaste lines. He listed "induce-ment of voters through dis-
'::::~tribution of money and inkind", paid news, voter apa-thy specially among youth and
. urban educated and security~, arrangement in Naxal-hit ar-I. eas as the major challenges--\
Well, as far as the CPMis concerned it's spelt
E-X-I-T....
that the EC encountered inthese elections. 'He also said,that in some states most of thetelevision channels are ownedby political parties that deniesa level playing field to others,He said EC would come witha policy on this issue beforethe next election.
On home minister P Chi-dambaram's statement dur-ing the campaign that WestBengal was the "worst gov-erned" in terms of law and or-der, Quraishi said the homeminister was expressing anopinion which was a widelyheld view in the country:"Probably he was referring tothat. We did not find anythingnoteworthy from the electionpoint of view," he said.Quraishi said EC deployed se-curity and held election in sixphases which points to lawand orderproblem. Left had
complained to EC about thehome minister's statement.
As for results, Quraishisaid the first one would beout by early lunch on Friday.An elaborate three-tier secu-rity arrangement has beenput in place for the exercise,which would start at 8 in themorning and involve 43,982officials and nearly 17,700central security personnel.
Giving details of the elec-tion in five states, Quraishisaid in all states there was anall-time higher voter turnout.In fact, in West Bengal andTamil Nadu it was highest inthe past 60 years. In TamilNadu there was an 11% in-crease from the last electionwhile it was 3.04 % in WestBengal. Except Assam, womencame out in large numbers toexercise their franchise in Ker-ala, Puducherry, West Bengal. ~
Election Comnnssion of India~----------~ .~------------~-----~~ DATE:!1
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Election Commission of IndiaNAMl-. 0F TIlE NEWS PAPER DATE:
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Election Commission of India' 2 Mf.,(Z011NAME OF THE NEWS PAPER DATE:
.~ Election Commission of India -,~o~.~~.~~~.·P=~=~=····~~~~1~~~A~~~.~~k~G~E~~~D~~=·~:-.-~1~2~M~2011
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o Inducement of voters through distribution of moneyand in kind \o Media misuse (paid news) .. '. IIoVoter apathy among youth and the educatedurban population Ii
. , . 0 Security arrangements,especially in Naxalaffectedareas. !~"~§:~To.lX'gQ~~~~t~e.~cj~~~~.+.,;;0' Violaiions of the Model Co.deof Conduct . \\
Electors: 14.16 crore I
(20% of total electorateof 7~.8 crore in the country)'.;·'7l1!1 e Video cal~eras:14,429
Election Commission of IndiaNAME OF THE NEWS PAPER THE PIONEER DATE:
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Jaya, CPM ask EC forhonest data operatorsPIONEER NEWS SERVICECHENNAI
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. Alleging that victory ofUnion Home Minister P
Chidambaram in SivagangaLok Sabha polls in 2009 to bea fraudulent one, AIADMKgeneral secretary J [ayalalithaaand CPl (M) on Wednesdayurged the ElectionCommission to appoint dataentry operators of integrityfor counting of votes.
In a letter to Chief ElectionCommissioner SY Quraishi,Jayalalithaa wrote, "1 requestthe ECl to appoint data entryoperators of integrity and alsoverify their credentials beforethey undertake the aboveassignment. 1 also request theEC to permit one countingagent to be present at thetime when the votes countedare entered in Form 20 to
I monitor whether correct'\ entries are made by the data
entry operators with regard to, the votes counted:'
"During the counting ofvotes for the Siva gangaParliamentary Constituency,
I the votes polled in favour of theAIADMK candidate RS Raja
I Kannappan were entered infavour of Chidambaram andthe votes polled in favour ofChidambaram were enteredin favour of Raja Kannappan,"Jayalalithaa reasoned to backup her request. _
Jayalalithaa provided votes'entries as entered physically bythe counting agents and that ofthe entries made by data entry .
, operators to substantiate her, arguments.: "The votes that were phys-
ically entered by the countingagents/counting officers ofRaja Kannappan were deliber-ately changed by the data entryoperators at the time of mak-ing entries in Form 20," shealleged, and went on to add, "A
, comparison of the hand writ-ten entries made by the count-ing agents of Kannappan andentries made by the data entryoperators in Porm 20 clearly
.• reveal. that the votes polled infa~oJ:lf of Kannappan were'entet.ed with mala fide inten-
I iiorl"to favour the Congresscandidate Chidambaram and
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'THE VOTES THATWERE PHYSICALLYENTERED BY THECOUNTINGOFFICERS OF RAJAKANNAPPAN WEREDELIBERATELYCHANGED BY THEDATA ENTRYOPERATORS AT THETIME OF MAKINGENTRIES'facilitate his fraudulentvictory:'
She charged that thealleged irregularities commit-ted by the data entry operatorswere done at the behest of theDMK Government and noaction was taken on that, whilea petition challengingChidambarams victory waspending in the MadrasHigh Court.
Urging the ElectionCommission to monitor thedata entry operators, the CPl(M) central committee mem-ber and Rajya Sabha MP TKRangarajan said that it wouldtake preventive steps to"Siva ganga model countingmystery': "In Sivaganga, whereHome Minister PChidambaram made a myste-rious victory, we understandthat the data entry operators,who are the people at the finallink of the total process, arelured into manipulating thecompilation of votes while tal-
. lying to arrive at the final fig-ures. We apprehend the cross-entry of votes polled by theOpposition candidates infavour of the ruling party bysome data entry operators withmala fide intent being attempt-ed," alleged Rangarajan.
'l\dditionally, we requestthat the observers ought to besensitised to these develop-ments and are advised to keepa watchful eye on the dataentry tables to prevent theSivaganganga model victory ofChidamabaram," . added theCP1(M) leader .
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"West Bengal awaits resultswith bated breath'
Election Commission can take creditfor having seen a largely peaceful pollMarcus Dam'
, KOLKATA: Now that the dusthas settled on what was.one ofthe most fiercely fought As-sembly elections in the State,West Bengal awaits its politi-cal destiny with bated breath.May 13 seems to be an agonis-ingly long time away.
Last-minute reappraisalsare being made in differentpolitical camps of feedbackreceived from party workersat.the grass roots on the pos-sible outcome in their respec-tive areas, even as leaderspore over the data filtering in.Given the closeness of thecontests in several constitu-encies, the imponderables attimes appear overwhelming.
The Election Commissionhas reasons to pat itself on theback for having seen ~ largely
peaceful poll, drawn out overan unprecedented six phases.and stretching over morethan three weeks, through.There was,even a special wordof congratulations from theChief Election Commissionerto the State's Chief ElectoralOfficer for the smooth con- iduct of a poll that had all theforebodings of being a trou-blesome exercise, given thepolitical violence in the pre-ceding months, not to men-tion the high stakes involved.
Focus of discourseAnd then there have been
the much-anticipated .exitpolls whose predictions nowdominate discourse not justin political circles but also be-yond. The responses are pre-dictable, drawing cheers andsneers, depending on which
• Exit poll predictions dominate discourse not justin political circles ~ut.also ~eyond
•• Pollsters have been often proved wrong, says·Biman Bose
side one is on.With nearly all pollsters
predicting a sweep for theTrinamool Congress-Con-gress alliance, a sense ofsmugness seems to have set in
. in the leadership of both theparties that now believe thatthe "winds of change" per-ceived as having started blow-ing across the State with therural polis in May 2008 didfinally develop into a "tsuna-mi" as Trinamool chief Ma-mata Banerjee has describedit in her own inimitable style.
The Left Front leadership,particularly that of the Com-munist Party ofIndia (Marx-ist), is, however, not overly
. worried, no matter how grimthe exit polis assessments are.
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CPI(M) State secretary Bi-man Bose has been quick torespond - not just describingthem as "bogus" but alsoquite correctly pointing outthe pollsters have often beenproved wrong; at times bysuch high percentage pointswhich might not only' havecaused them embarrassmentbut also raised questions onthe methodologies applied.The last time the TrinamoolCongress-Congress fought an
.Assembly poll together - in2001 - the forecasts of mostof the exit polls were way offthe mark.
Talk of the "anti-incum-bency" factor is not new in-aState that has seen no changein government for nearly 34
years now, even though it. may have gained currencyover the past term. Nor canthe high voter turnout in theelection; where the averagewas not much more than thatin the last Assembly polls, beconstrued as a definitive in-dicator, as has often been thecase in other parts of thecountry. _.
"Winds of change"The question that will be
answered when the electron-ic voting machines are un-locked, come Friday, iswhether the Left Front has,since the last of the succes-sive electoral reversals it suf-fered over the 'past threeyears, been able to makeenough of a turnaround infortunes not just to success-fully fend off the "winds ofchange," but also whether ornot the image of "resurgence"it-has been projecting for it-self hasfinally held good inthe public mind .
Tamil Nadu accounted for over80% of the n4.27·crore cash theElection Commission seizedfrom four states during the just-concluded assembly polls,Even though EC refused to di-
vulge party-wise break-up of the~60.l0 crore seized from TamilNadu, it acknowledged that theseizures could be the tip of theiceberg as far as election spend-ing by the major political partiesin the state was concerned.EC, with the co-operation of the '
Central Board of Direct Taxes,seized ~8.35crore from West Ben-gal, ~5.20 crore from Assam and~62 lakh from Kerala. There wasno cash seizure from the UnionTerritory of Puducherry; whichtoo went to the poils.The assembly poil in five states
saw an across-the-board increasein voter turnout, with WestBen-gal and Tamil Nadu recording thehighest polling percentage inelectoral history.Puducherry reported the high-
est turnout at 85.57%, and West
Cas•axi
Bengal saw an over 3% increasein polling percentage at 84.46%.Kerala saw the turnout improvefrom 72.38% to75.l2%andAssam
from 75.77% to 76.04%.This was the first election where
overseas Indians could vote ifthey were registered and turned
up at polling booths.Of 8,820registered overseasvot-
ers from Kerala, 4,369voted. Oneof these voters also contested theelection from Thodupuzha ofIdukki district.In Kerala and Puducherry; EC
for the first time held voting ex-clusively on the EPIC or the voterslip issued by it for those withoutvoter l-cards. According to r.ECSYQuraishi, this could be doneas
-there was 100% EPIC coverage inthese two states.The "completely peaceful, inci-
dent-free elections," were madepossible by nearly 7.4lakh poiling.personnel and 6.361akh securitypersonneLAccording to Quraishi, induce-
ment of voters through distribu-tion of money in cash and kind,paid news, voter apathy amongyouth and urban educated and se-currtyarrangement in Naxal-hitareas were major challenges en-countered in these elections.The EC expressed satisfaction
that there were no appeals oncommunal or caste lines, provoc-ative speeches or serious hatespeeches this time.
Election Commission of India -;NA.
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'Level playingfield for partiessans channels'
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AGE CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI
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May 11: The EC onWednesday said that it isworking on guidelines for \the electronic media toensure a level playing fieldfor political parties that'own television channelsand those that cannot boastof having one.
Addressing a press con-ference here, Chief Elec-tion Commissioner S.Y,..Quraishi, flanked by theother - two commissioners,Mr V.S. Sarnpath and MrH.S. Brahma, said, "Insome of the states whichwent to polls, most of thechannels are owned bypolitical parties,"
Noting that parties that I
have channels of their ownwould.change the complex-ion of the game, the CEC 'said that the EC was exam-ining on how to go aboutevolving a policy on it. He'Said, ~'We also examiningwhether using your own'channel for unlimited pub-licity, how to account for
i,kxpenses." /
Election Commission of IndiaNAME 0- "tIE NEWS PAPER THE ECONOMIC TIMES OATE,:
lEe armsfor PartyChannels Soon
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OUR POLITICAL BUREAU'NEW DELHIThe Election Commission is for-mulating guidelines to accountfor campaigning carried out bypolitical parties through televi-sion channels owned and operat-ed by their affiliates,
Conflrrning that theEC wasconcerned over political entitiesusing party channels to generateunlimited publicity ,for them- ,selves and their candidates dur- {ing polls, C~G~Y Quraishi saidthe 'commission was now exam-ining how to account for the ex-penses made on such publicity.Election Commission VS Sam-
path said EC was holding inten-sive consultations to draw up ,guidelines for monitoring chan- ,nels owned by individuals or $firms affiliated to political 'par- Ities. As part of its efforts to curb l \illegal money power in polls? EC '1is also holding consultations 1over a proposal to introduce au- ;dit of accounts of polit~cal par- IIties and bring contributionsfrom individuals and business- jes inpublicdomain. i
Guidelines on monitoring of 'news channels owned by politi-cal families and their aides, ac-cording to an EC source, wouldfocus on accounting for expensesincurred on publicity for the po-litical party running the channelor its candidates during polls. .The EC's decision to monitor
party-run channels comes aftercomplaints of misuse of newschannels in Tamil Naduand Ker-ala to woo voters.
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to divide the cost of runningthese channels in election expen-diture of all candidates of theparty supported by the channel.In case, individual candidatesare promoted, the cost of thatcampaign will be automaticallyadded to the expenditure of thecandidate. Candidates and par-ties have an upper spending limitas per EC guidelines,As per officials, a committee will
be entrusted the job of monitor-ingthat TV channels implementthe new guidelines. It will hearcomplaints and issue notices tothe news channels. Even thoughI&Bministry guidelines prohibita party to run a TV news channel,there is no ban on persons withpolitical affiliations to run them.Therefore all news channels saidto be of political parties are own-ed by individuals.For instance, Tamil Nadu,
which has the maximum num-ber ofsuch channels.rincludjngKalaignar v'I'V owned by' DMKchief K Karunanidhi's familymembers and Jaya TV owned byJayalalithaaherself. ~
Election Commission of IndiaNAWn OF THE NEWS PAPER DATE: 1 2 f.,IAY 2011THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS
INTERVIEW: 5 Y QURAISHI..CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER1State funding of polls maynot curb use of black moneyAs the long-drawn process of as-semblyelections infour states andone Union territory was about todraw to a close, FE's NistulaHebbar caught up with chief elec-tion commissioner SY Quraishifor an interuieui. The CEC talkedaboutthepollprocess, useof mon-ey power in electioneering, paidnews and why he thought thatmemoirs are a bad idea.
It has been a fairly peacefulpoll all around, So do you feeljustified holding six phases ofpolls for West Bengal and amonth-long wait for the re-sults for the rest?
Fairly peaceful? These pollsweretotallypeaceful. And only themedia seems to be having a prob-lem with the long-drawn-out polls,despite the fact that we have givenyou enough news fodder for twomonths! Anyway,seriously, wearenot fools to have scheduled thepolls in a certain way.WestBengalneeded amassive infusion of secu-rity and political parties have notquestionedthisandactuallydonotquestion this anymore. It isa smallprice to pay for a free andfairpoll.
In Tamil Nadu, there was amas-sivecrackdown on the use of mon-ey power during the elections,which got you and others in the
Election Commission into awar ofwords with the DMKin particular.(DMK chief) M Karunanidhilikened the situation to the emer-gencyera.
During elections, tempers arehigh and we take these things inour stride. Politicians are shrewdenough to know why we are doingwhat we are doing. It is our job toconduct free and fair polls, in or-der to fulfil our constitutional du-ty.If someone has a problem withthat, then, toobad.
You've said earlier that it istougher to combat money pow-er than muscle power, In thisscenario, are you in favour ofstate funding of elections?
Money is generally tougher tocrack down on as it is more insidi-ous and both the one who distrib-utes and the one who receives itrarely complain. Having said that,I am not in favour of state fundingof elections, since the issue is thespending of black money and notwhite. Here, we get the accountsfrom candidates and political par-ties of the white money theyspend. When state funding hap-pens, then too we will get an ac-counting done,but the aim tocurbthe black money might not bemet.Withstate funding, wewill only be
facilitating all the money,which isnow being spent in white, beingturned black. Sowhere is the useof sucha system? There is only thetough road left for electoral re-forms in this matter, and that is forpolitical parties tobeaware, trans-parent. Accept money onlythrough cheque, publish thenames of your donors so votersknow if there is any post-electoralquid pro quo involved.
With regard to limits to expen-diture, there is a reason why thereare limits, which is to-make surethat electoral politics is not the ex-
Election Commission of IndiaNAWTC OF THE NEWS PAPER THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS DATE:
elusive domain of the rich andanyone can fight elections. Wesubscribe to this logic.
During the last elections, the is-sue of paid news came up in abig way.Whatis the progress onthat front?
In the assembly elections inBihar this time, we saw 86 no-tices served for paid news and inmost cases parties and candi-dates came forward to own up tothe matter. We are exploring le-gal options and implications of"misleading" the people by mak-ing advertorials look like newscontent. Having said that, wehave a media monitoring com-mittee in every district, and I amhappy to say that in these elec-tions, the cases have been negli-gible. Of course that could alsobe that in states like Tamil Nadu,Kerala and WestBengal politicalparties themselves are signifi-cant media groups in them-selves. But even party-ownedoutlets cannot exceed expendi-ture limits.
After the jasmine revolution,the Egyptians had been intouch with you for the conductof their elections. What advicedid you give them?
Well,we were one of the coun-tries the Egyptians had ap-proached for some help and guid-ance and wegavepresentations onthe way we do things. I did tellthem, however, that they shouldnot import electronic voting ma-chines (EVMs) from other coun-tries. The bulwark on which a de-mocratic society is based is theconduct of free and fair elections,imported machines will alwaysbevulnerable to charges of rigging.Even in India, we import the chipin the machine, after which therehas been a campaign that ourEVMs are faulty. Why take therisk, I asked them.
Your tenure will end in 2012,and you are a man who has awide range of interests. Whatare your plans?
I am in the process of writing abookon Urdu poetry for non-Urduspeakers. I'm also planning towrite one on family planning andIslam as there are many mythsabout the subject.
Any plans for a memoir?Not really. I am of the view that
writing memoirs is never a goodidea, since one has a tendency toeither brag or be too self effacingwhile writing it.
