New Delhi
The Election Commission has made some changes in the election related rules. Under this, CCTV footage of poll booths can no longer be made available to the candidates and the general public. Before this reform, all election-related papers were available for inspection by the general public under section 93(2) of the Conduct of Elections Rules. However, court permission was required for this. After the change in these rules by the Election Commission, Congress has attacked the Modi government and the Election Commission. He has accused him of destroying the purity and transparency of the electoral process. However, the Commission says that these steps have been taken keeping in mind the privacy and security of the voters.
These changes have been made at a time when the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the Election Commission to provide the documents related to the Haryana Assembly elections to Advocate Mahmood Pracha. The advocate had filed a petition in the High Court, in which he had sought copies of videography, CCTV camera footage, Form 17-C Part 1 and Part 2 taken during the Haryana elections. Till now there was a list in the rules and regulations, which had to be made available to the people on the instructions of the competent court. The changes made in the rules on Friday have added one line to it. In this, the Election Commission has clarified that the list of papers will not include documents or electronic records, which have not been mentioned in the rules.
Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said that his party will challenge these changes in court. He said that if the Election Commission has taken any step in recent times to affect the integrity of the elections, it is this one. However, Election Commission sources have justified the changes. It said that making the CCTV footage available to anyone could have made the matter serious. Especially in sensitive places like Jammu and Kashmir and Naxal areas, this could become a security issue. According to Times of India, a senior Election Commission official said that due to this, the lives of voters could also be in danger.
According to Election Commission officials, all election papers and documents are available for inspection by the general public. In any case candidates can know about all types of records. The official said that Pracha is also entitled to get all the documents of his assembly constituency. According to Election Commission sources, the documents which have been said not to be made available to the public in the rules are electronic records. The Election Commission official said that after getting the CCTV footage, anyone can tamper with it through AI. Therefore this rule has been changed.
