Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Thursday countered the allegations of ‘unfairness’ alleged by the opposition because of the ‘delay’ in the Gujarat assembly election and said the outcome of an election stands testimony to the fairness of the EVM and the election commission. Kumar also said that there has actually been no delay in the Gujarat election announcement as there are still 112 days left for the term of the assembly. While Himachal Pradesh will go to the polls on November 12 in a single phase, Gujarat polls will be held in two phases -- on December 1 and 5. The counting will be held together on December 8.
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When the EC announced the Himachal Pradesh schedule last month, it became clear that the counting will take place on December 8 but questions were raised as to why the poll body delayed the announcement of the Gujarat election dates.
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"There is a tradition of counting the results together, there is weather and there is a difference between the last days when the assemblies of both the states will expire and also a difference between the date of the model code of conduct. Still we announced the election dates 110 days ahead of the expiry of the Gujarat assembly. And there will be a 72 days' gap between the counting of the result and the expiry of the assembly in Gujarat. We are quite in advance," Rajiv Kumar said.
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{{/usCountry}}On the question of fairness arising out of this alleged delay, brought by the opposition, Rajiv Kumar said action and outcome speak louder than words. "If we say that our results are not correct, then it will be an insult to the people of this democracy," he said.
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"No matter how much I try to make you understand, what's important are the actions and our correct results. Results have shown that those who are critical got surprising results," the CEC said.
"Many parties write long letters to us complaining against the EVM machines. And then their candidates win, those complaints stop. And the results get accepted," Rajiv Kumar said.
"This is nothing new. This is our proud legacy. Election Commission was not set up yesterday," he said adding that in a cricket match too the teams blame the umpire. "we do not have a third umpire here that we can go back and check ball by ball. But the outcome is the testimony of the fairness of the Election Commission," Kumar said.
The chief election commissioner's response was to a question on Congress's tweet earlier in the day where the party posted the three monkey emojis ahead of the announcement of the Gujarat schedule.