EC's historic decision changes course of Gujarat RS polls
Tuesday's Rajya Sabha polls of Gujarat were significant in more ways than one. Firstly, there's the matter of Ahmed Patel managing to keep Congress' hope afloat by clinching a win. Then there's the historic judgment of the Election Commission which actually led to Patel's victory: in a never-before decision, it overruled the verdict of the supervising Returning Officer (RO) to ensure adherence to rules.
What went wrong in Ahmedabad?
According to rules, a voter can show his ballot paper only to their own party representative. However, two rebel Congress MLAs, Bhola Gohil and Raghav Patel, showed their votes to BJP's Amit Shah. The Congress demanded the two votes be declared invalid; surprisingly, the RO cleared them for counting. Contrary to the usual procedure, the RO decided himself instead of seeking directions from EC.
The EC intervenes
Within minutes, the EC was looking into it. BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad argued that the RO was the statutory officer to decide such cases, and only a court could overrule his decision. The EC analyzed video footage. Finally, it invoked Article 324 of the Constitution, which gives it unprecedented powers to hold free-and-fair polls. It quoted relevant SC orders.
What made it a landmark order?
"Normally, the EC has intervened and overruled RO's decisions in cases of rejection of nomination or symbol allotment. This is the first time that the RO's ruling on the issue of invalidating votes has been overruled by the EC," said an EC functionary.
What might have happened, had the EC not intervened
If the matter went to court, it would have firstly been a long process. Moreover, the court might have decided to stand by the RO. After the EC decision, two votes became invalid, thus the requirement for one candidate to win became 44 votes instead of 45. If both votes, which went to the BJP, were counted, Patel would have lost with 44 votes.
After EVM tampering allegations, EC decision might recreate its image
This was a much-needed boost for the EC too, which had lately faced troubled times over mass criticism of alleged tampering of EVMs. "The order will certainly silence many of its critics," an official said.
