THE controversy over Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid’s statement had hardly died down, with the commission accepting his regret, that another Congress minister, Beni Prasad Verma, challenged the commission to take action against him for declaring in a public meeting that the quota for Muslims would be augmented in U.P. where assembly elections are underway. If Verma’s dare to the Election Commission is anything to go by, that wise counsel has been defied.
It is not statements like those of Khurshid and Verma that are at issue but the timing of such statements, since the process for assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh is on. The commission’s implication in Khurshid’s case was that his statement could influence voters and thereby give an unfair advantage to his party. In a country as large as India, the Election Commission’s job of smoothly running the process of elections across the country is indeed a daunting one. There can be little doubt that it needs unstinted support of all parties in its onerous task. The code of conduct that all parties have agreed to needs to be followed in letter and spirit.
— K.V. Raman, Malad