Election Commission of India is a constitutional body which has been mandated with conducting free and fair elections for the Parliament and state assemblies via Article 324 of the constitution of India.
The rationale behind the recent announcement of ECI can be:
1. Fulfilling its constitutional mandate of conducting free and “fair” elections and maintaining the sanctity of the poll process.
2. Bringing all the parties contesting the elections to a level playing field, by eliminating the misuse of authority that the incumbent government could resort to via such appeal hearings.
3. To prevent corrupt practices such as alluring a group of voters on the basis of caste, race, religion or language, when appeals of that nature come up.
4. To prevent the incumbent from short-sighted policy-making or announcements that may be detrimental to the long term interests of the State.
5. To prevent the incumbent government from being falsely accused of populist agenda by the opposition parties, and being shown in a bad light in front of the voters.
The announcement also states that in states where such meetings are mandated by statute, they should be presided over by Secretary-level officers and not by the political Executive.
Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of a true democracy. This decision is one of the many steps that the ECI has taken to further the cause of a vibrant democracy.
