Postponementof elections

 

It is reported that all the political parties in Kerala have reached a consensus in asking the election commission of India to postpone the proposed bye election to Chavara and Kuttanadu seats.  I fully agree with the stand of the parties in this issue, as the general elections to the state assembly is to be held by April next year and anybody getting elected in the bye election proposed to be held in November will get hardly four months to work, the expenses incurred by the state as well as the candidates in this election will be a sheer waste of resources. This amount can very well be used for some other more.beneficial purposes .

However , the condition put forward by the UDF to support the government in the above move, viz postponement of election to the local self government institutions which is due in november too, cannot be appreciated. While UDF is taking shelter under the covid pandemic for such a demand , i am not sure whether they have considered any alternative, as the existing elected members will cease to be in office by november and after that there will be no elected body at LSG level to coordinate or implement actions for fighting the pandemic. This may lead to a chaotic situation, i am afraid.

And , if the government can successfully conduct the public examinations like SSLC,HSC, KEAM, NEET, JEE etc which involved congregation of thousands of students at one place, without much problems, i fail to understand what can be the problems in holding the elections which involves hardly a thousand of voters at each booth spread over a period of about 10 hours. If this is conducted with proper care like wearing masks, maintaining social distance , ensuring separate queues for senior citizens etc I do not anticipate any massive spread of the disease by holding the elections. Staggering of voting time for voters based on their serial numbers in the voters list also can be considered to avoid crowding in the polling stations. I hope better sense will prevail over UDF leaders and they will see reason in the issue. And in the present situation where medicine or vaccine for COVID still remain a far cry , UDF should explain when do they propose to hold the proposed postponed elections..