If the BJP is facing flak from the Election Commission (EC) for circulating an inflammatory CD in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Union Minister Sharad Pawar was today hauled up for announcing a Rs 900-crore relief package for the sugar industry in violation of the commission’s “standing instructions.”

In view of the Uttar Pradesh elections, the EC, while putting a stay on the sugar relief package, noted that there appeared to be a “prime facie” case of violation of the model code of conduct by Pawar. The EC, citing a report in The Indian Express, asked the Cabinet Secretary to obtain an explanation from the minister on this issue.

In a stern and lengthy message to the Cabinet Secretary, the EC noted that it was not the first time that departments and ministries of the Union Government had acted against the EC’s instruction against announcing government packages or schemes benefiting voters of election-bound states. “This is the third such incident in the recent times when some announcements have been made by the government and/or its ministries in violation of the model code of conduct when elections were in progress,” the EC pointed out.

It cited the instance wherein Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh had announced the Centre’s plan to reserve seats for OBC in higher education institutions during the earlier Assembly elections in four states. Pawar had also announced a similar relief package for sugar mills during the last Bihar Assembly polls.

In a stinging comment on the manner in which the decision to give relief to the sugar industry was first taken and then quietly leaked to the media in spite of the EC’s order to the contrary, the commission said it was regrettable. “If political mileage was intended to be derived in announcing subsidy to the sugar industry and making it public, it has already been derived,” the EC’s letter noted.

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