CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: Chief election commissioner V C Sampath on Tuesday expressed his disapproval over the Centre's decision to go ahead with the direct cash transfer scheme when assembly elections were round-the-corner in Gujarat.
Himachal Pradesh, the other state that went to polls, is yet to know the result, and model code of conduct is still in force.
Sampath, who was in Chennai to review the ongoing summary revision of rolls, said that the EC would not allow the level playing field to be disturbed in any manner. He said the Centre should not have started the scheme at this juncture. "Our order is clear, that it is something which ought not to have been done now." The scheme will actually come into effect only on January 1, but the EC's view is that the announcement should not have been made now as it would influence elections in the two states. "We have expressed our concern," he added.
The CEC has also directed the Centre to suspend all steps towards operationalization of the scheme in the two election-bound states until the poll process was complete. Incidentally, this may make little difference on the ground as the direct cash transfer scheme is to roll out across 51 districts — of which four are in Gujarat and two in Himachal Pradesh — only from January 1, 2013. The poll process in the two states will wind up by December 24.
TOI was the first to report on December 2 about EC's unhappiness over the timing of the cash transfer scheme and said its implementation would be put on hold in the poll-bound states until after the elections.
The EC's order on Tuesday, which followed a BJP complaint, said the poll-eve announcement was "avoidable... going by the letter and spirit of the model code of conduct".
Stating that the commission was not going into the merits of the government's policy decisions but was concerned if any such decision would disturb the electoral level playing field, the EC said the government had failed to offer justification sought by it on the necessity of the direct cash transfer announcement while the poll code was in force in Gujarat and Himachal.
The three-member body is said to have questioned the urgency behind announcing the scheme in November when the roll out was slated only by the New Year, by when the poll process would be over.
Besides, the fact that two Union ministers, P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, held forth on the benefits of the scheme from Congress platforms caught the EC's attention. The government sees cash transfers as a major poll hook, coining the slogan "aap ka paisa, aap ke haath" while seeing the benefits of the scheme in streamlining subsidies and getting rid of ghost beneficiaries. Mindful of its populist appeal, the BJP lost no time in alleging violation of the poll code by the Congress-led government at the Centre.
Cash scheme will influence polls, says CEC
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Cash scheme will influence polls, says CEC
