The Hindu Business Line : Tasks before CEC

ON February 7, Mr T. S. Krishnamurthy took over from Mr J. M. Lyngdoh as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), with Mr N. Gopalaswami, Union Home Secretary, taking his place. Including Mr B. B. Tandon, the Commission now has a seasoned and well-knit trio who will quietly go about their business as an effective and professional team, interested more in results than in exhibitionist antics.

The Commission's plate is going to be full until the Lok Sabha elections are over. New alliances have raised the stakes for parties, and the Election Commission may as well gear itself up for the nasty prospect of violations of its code of conduct by contenders in the field. The immediate issue before the CEC is to find ways of reining in the irrational exuberance of the lame-duck Government in launching two ad blitzes in the run up to the election: India Shines at a cost of Rs 25 crore and India on the Move gobbling up as much as Rs 250 crore. One can understand the BJP or the NDA spending its own money to tom-tom the achievements of the government headed by it as part of its election campaign. But to dip into public coffers for self-serving propaganda is to put the other parties at a disadvantage and set a bad example.

This has to be stopped for, otherwise, public funds squandered by future governments for electoral gains will in no time burgeon to huge proportions before the taxpayers' very eyes.

The CEC should computerise the details in the affidavits of candidates filed with their nominations about ongoing criminal cases, previous convictions, movable and immovable property of themselves and their dependents, and their educational qualifications so as to be able to publish in the media a few days before the poll constituency-wise names of candidates facing criminal charges and/or having previous conviction. It should also publish information obtained from the Comptroller and Auditor-General or secretariats of Parliament or State Assemblies on candidates, who were MPs or MLAs, who have defaulted in submitting full and satisfactory accounts for the constituency grants. The Commission should not shirk this duty because in a vital sense, it ushers in the entire legislative and executive superstructure of the nation, from which flow the composition of, and appointments to, all its numerous branches, boding ill or well for the quality of governance and the efficacy of democratic institutions.