'Defiance' of Election Commission guidelines in Tamil Nadu: Do media, politicians care?

By NS Venkataraman*
With the polling in Tamil Nadu over, many citizens heave a sigh of relief that they would be spared from the noise made by politicians and media at least for the next few weeks, it is time to reflect for a moment about the role of the Election Commission in Tamil Nadu and what kind of respect it commanded from the media and the political parties.
The Election Commission specifically said that no campaign should be carried out in the print and visual media, social media such as Twitter, WhatsApp etc.. on the day preceding the election. Forty eight hours before the election day, no pre-poll survey should be discussed.
However, the print and visual media as well as politicians simply did not take note of the guidelines from the Election Commission, which obviously means, perhaps, they are indifferent as far as the Election Commission is concerned.
Even newspapers published in Tamil and English with long tradition and what one would think of as the reputation that they have to protect, carried massive advertisements running into several pages from more than one political party on April 5, 2021, a day before the polling.

It was shocking for a person like me reading a particular English newspaper for over five decades and with a vice like grip that the paper has over me, to find a cartoon published in the centre page on April 5 which is obviously partisan and seems to be aimed at one or two political parties. Obviously, the publication of the cartoon must have been approved by the editor.
One Tamil channel discussed the pre-poll survey on April 4 night, which was against the guidelines issued by the Election Commission, which does not appear to have reacted to such defiance by the political parties and the media.
Highly concerned about such a scenario, I sent a mail to several persons who retired as top officers in the state and central governments, persons known for courage of conviction and some so-called “ordinary people” who have been silently fuming about the steady fall in the value systems in India.
To my surprise, around 70% of the people to whom I sent messages responded. It appears most of them concurred with my concern. Some of them said that the Election Commission has become weak. Some others said that the public opinion has become very weak and impotent.

Tamil and English newspapers carried massive ads running into several pages from more than one political party a day before the polling

Some others said that the section of media has become irresponsible, as it attaches more importance to business promotion and earning money by way of advertisement rather than by standing for the cause as expected by the common people. Some people said that people are also responsible as they put up with all such violations and remain as spectators from the gallery.
Some are of the view that the Election Commission has been systematically weakened by the judiciary, as several decisions of the Election Commission have been overruled by the judiciary in recent times. It appears that the judiciary has developed an “elder brother” attitude towards the Election Commission, though the judiciary and Election Commission are constitutional bodies and derive their authority from the constitution.
An elderly journalist, who practiced as an active journalist in better times, sarcastically said that the “election process in India has become one of the Election Commission versus the rest”.
Another view expressed was that while Election Commission routinely issue warnings and show cause notice to the candidates and political parties not adhering to the guidelines, rarely any action is taken after the conclusion of the poll against those defying the guidelines. They go scot free. One gets an impression that Election Commission wants to go through the poll process somehow. Is the poll process in Tamil Nadu is a case of "operation successful and patient died"?
---
Trustee, Nandini Voice For the Deprived, Chennai

Comments

Anonymous said…

the political parties are fully aware that the EC has transformed itself into the EC of the BJP. Why should political parties care - as long as they have the right affiliations and party?

April 08, 2021

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Subaltern voices go digital: Three Indian projects rewriting history from the ground up

By A Representative A new wave of digital humanities (DH) work in India is shifting the focus away from university classrooms and English-language scholarship, instead prioritizing multilingual, community-driven archives that amplify subaltern voices . According to a review published in the Journal of Asian Studies , projects such as the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), the Oral History Narmada archive , and the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre are redefining how the country remembers its past — often without government funding or institutional support.

Beyond Lata: How Asha Bhosle redefined the female voice with her underrated versatility

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The news of iconic Asha Bhosle’s ‘untimely’ demise has shocked music lovers across the country. Asha Tai was 92 years young. Normally, people celebrate a passing at this age, but Asha Bhosle—much like another legend, Dev Anand—never made us feel she was growing old. She was perhaps the most versatile artist in Bombay cinema. Hailing from a family devoted to music, Asha’s journey to success and fame was not easy. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the voice of women in cinema, and most contemporaries like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, and Noor Jehan had slowly faded into oblivion. Frankly, there was no second or third to Lata Mangeshkar; she became the first—and perhaps the only—choice for music directors and all those who mattered in filmmaking. Asha started her musical journey at age 10 with a Marathi film, but her first break in Hindustani cinema came with the film "Chunariya" (1948). Though she was not the first choice of ...

Search This Blog