There is not a soul in the country in the government camp or in the ranks of the opposition who has not been going overboard laying emphasis on the inevitable need to have free and fair elections. Normally this figure of speech is popular in the opposition camp only where it is virtually taken for granted, not without logical and convincing reasons, that the elections would be rigged, and that the government’s extensive and powerful machinery would ensure that the gap between ‘the desired results’ and ‘the actual ones’ is negligible. Precisely the reason the opposition parties are demanding the setting up of an impartial and credible mechanism that can remove all impediments in the way of free and fair elections. Interestingly the spokespersons of the government setup too are not found wanting in ‘eulogizing’ the importance of free and fair elections. Their firm and inflexible belief happens to be that ‘fairer’ and ‘more free’ the elections will be, the greater is going to be the likelihood of more and more government candidates emerging triumphant. To ensure that the elections remain ‘free’ and ‘fair’ to the desired degree, the government is determined to keep both the Election Commission and the electioneering process firmly under its vigilant control. The Election Commission in its behaviour in the presidential election has left no stone unturned to prove how inflexibly dependable it is going to be, in meeting the standards of ‘fairness’ set by the government. The problem here is that the opposition parties have quite the opposite standards of fairness in their expectations. They are hoping against hope that the President’s specially privileged position will not be instrumental in defining the meanings of both the terms – Free and Fair.
11-03-2014
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