NEW DELHI: Election Commission has brought changes in electoral rules to specify that CCTV footage of poll booths will not come under the category of “documents” to be made available to contestants and general public. Before the amendment, the provision under Section 93(2) of the Conduct of Election Rules said “all other papers relating to the election shall be open to public inspection” with court permission.
Congress was quick to latch on to the changes and accused the Modi govt and EC of hurting transparency and eroding the integrity of the electoral process, but the poll panel said it was done to protect the privacy of voters and for their safety.
The changes were triggered after the Punjab and Haryana high court recently directed EC to provide copies of required documents related to the Haryana assembly elections to advocate Mehmood Pracha.
Congress to contest EC’s poll rules tweak in courts ‘right away
He had filed a petition seeking the videography, CCTV camera footage, and copies of Forms 17-C Parts I and II related to the conduct of elections.
The existing rules do not contain any specific obligation on part of EC to provide any videographic record or CCTV footage to the public. The detailed rules have a list of records which can be made public , after directions from a competent court. Friday’s amendment has added a line where Section 93, in sub-section (2), in clause (a), after the word ‘papers’, the words ‘as specified in these rules’ shall be inserted. By adding this clarification, EC has made it clear that ‘papers’ would not include any documents or electronic records which have not been specified in the rules.
Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said his party would challenge this amendment in courts “right away”. He said, “If there was ever a vindication of our assertions regarding eroding integrity of the electoral process managed by EC in recent times, this is it.”
EC sources, however, justified the changes and said restriction of making available CCTV footage to anyone was to avoid mischief and for the safety concerns of voters. “Sharing of CCTV footage may have serious repercussions, specially in sensitive areas like J&K, Naxal-affected regions etc where secrecy is important and the lives of voters are at risk for participating in the democratic process,” a senior EC official said.
All election papers and documents are otherwise available for public inspection. Candidates in any case have access to all documents, papers and records. “Even Pracha was entitled for all the records from his constituency,” the official added. Sources in EC said the rule mentioned election paper documents and did not in any way specifically refer to electronic records. “In order to remove this ambiguity and considering… potential misuse of CCTV footage of inside the polling station using AI by a single person, the rule has been amended…” an EC official said.