The Election Commission of India (EC) on Wednesday clarified that political parties cannot issue whips or directions to its members for the July 19 presidential polls in which UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee is pitted against former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sang-ma who enjoys the support of the BJP, AIADMK, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJD.
The poll panel has declared that doing so would amount to influencing the voters unduly. Political parties also are at liberty to either seek support for any candidate in the fray or appeal to abstain from voting, the EC has said. The EC has also made it clear that there is no compulsion for any member of the electoral college to vote in the poll and that abstaining would not come under the ambit of disqualification under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution (Anti-Defection Law).
The commission has observed: “Political parties cannot issue any direction or whip to their members to vote in a particular manner or not to vote at the election leaving them with no choice, as that would tantamount to the offence of undue in-fluence within the meaning of section 171C of the IPC.
”On the issue of members of the electoral college casting their vote or not, the EC has said, “In the commission’s opinion, the voting or not voting in the presidential poll as per the member’s own free will not come within the ambit of disqualification under the Tenth Schedule (Anti-Defection Law) to the Constitution of India.”
Even as it directed returning officer V.K. Agnihotri to ensure secrecy of voting, the poll panel has also said that members’ exercising their franchise is not a part of the proceedings of the house.