A video showing food packets distributed to people in an election rally of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) from an escort vehicle of Jammu & Kashmir police in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Saturday last week though deserved immediate and a stringent action from the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the state election authorities working under the command and control of Jammu & Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) but no action from the apex poll body and the state election authorities has once again brought the institutional and administrative neutrality of the Election Commission of India (ECI) into disrepute. So for the stringent action taken by the Election Commission of India against the political leaders for poll code violation has been restricted to either ban on campaigning for 2-3 days or filing of an FIR in the concerned police station and consequently these half hearted action against the poll code violators have led to occurrence and re-occurrence of the poll code violation across the country. An exemplary punishment in a single case of poll code violation which could have stopped the politicians from violating the poll code is yet to come from the Election Commission of India (ECI) this time when three out of seven rounds of balloting have been completed. Jammu & Kashmir police attaching some cops present in the vehicle should not be satisfying for the Election Commission of India (ECI) as action against the BJP’s candidate for Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency has become inevitable keeping in view the misuse of the police vehicle and policemen deployed for his security by him during the election rally in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on last Saturday.
Though Jammu & Kashmir police has registered a case and ordered a probe into the incident of food distribution in BJP’s election rally in South Kashmir but surprisingly the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to contemplate an immediate action against the BJP candidate for South Kashmir Lok Sabha constituency for misusing the police vehicle and policemen deployed for his security in the election rally significantly attended by top BJP leaders including the saffron party’s national general secretary Ram Madhav.
Though Jammu & Kashmir police has registered a case and ordered a probe into the incident of food distribution in BJP’s election rally in South Kashmir but surprisingly the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to contemplate an immediate action against the BJP candidate for South Kashmir Lok Sabha constituency for misusing the police vehicle and policemen deployed for his security in the election rally significantly attended by top BJP leaders including the saffron party’s national general secretary Ram Madhav. Inaction from the Election Commission of India (ECI) against the BJP’s candidate for South Kashmir lok sabha constituency for misusing the police vehicles and policemen for food distribution in the election rally would erode the already eroded faith of the people of Kashmir in the electoral exercises.
