Live
- Winter Session of Parliament Begins with Key Bills and Heated Debates
- BGT 2024-25: India begin trophy defence with triumph over Australia in Perth
- Supreme Court trashes pleas challenging insertion of ‘Socialist’, ‘Secular’ in Preamble to Constitution
- iPhone production reaches $10 bn in India in April-Oct, creates 1.75 lakh direct jobs in 4 years
- Australian govt orders national review into school bullying
- Isro's Busy End to 2024: Key Space Missions, Including Spadex and Proba-3, Planned for December
- Rajaka Udyoga Sangam new committee elected
- Astronauts Stuck in Space: Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore's Mission Extended Until February 2025
- 'Muslims don't vote for JD(U)', says Union Minister Lalan Singh
- St. Joseph’s organises literary fest
All parties should share blame
The Election Commission’s decision - an equally unprecedented step of invoking the rarely-used Article 324 - to snip the campaign time by 19 hours for nine constituencies in the state
The Election Commission's decision - an equally unprecedented step of invoking the rarely-used Article 324 - to snip the campaign time by 19 hours for nine constituencies in the state that go to polls on Sunday, citing an atmosphere of 'fear and hatred', is likely to add fuel to the simmering political flames.
Safety and security of voters being of prime concern, the EC decision was based on the on-the-spot reports of independent election observers.
All parties should share the blame for the politics of divisiveness and distraction.
But the really disturbing element in this election has been the questionable role of the EC, which, from being perceived as an institution of independence came to be seen as a tool in the hands of the political executive because of a spate of decisions and omissions.
It will take a long while for the institution to recover its credibility.
The 2019 election has, therefore, shown that while democracy is safe, it is not in particularly good health.
S A Jayatheertha, Hyderabad
