Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Election Commission on Sunday said announcements and policy decisions before the poll announcement are a prerogative of the govt in office – Centre or state. The model code of conduct, prohibiting any new announcement by a govt, comes into effect only from the time of the official announcement of election dates, the panel said while declaring the assembly poll schedule for West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry. Responding to questions on whether announcements, including dearness allowance for state govt employees, made by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee less than an hour before EC announced the poll schedule are a violation, CEC Gyanesh Kumar said, “The model code of conduct comes into effect after the announcement of polls and not before.” There have been instances of incumbent govts announcing decisions, including financial assistance to beneficiaries, just before the code kicked in, and opposition parties have often termed these as “inducements” to influence voting. On Sunday, several reporters mentioned the Rs 10,000 financial help extended to women by the Nitish Kumar govt in Bihar just before the 2025 assembly election, and the M K Stalin govt in TN depositing Rs 6,550 crore into the bank accounts of over 1.3 crore women as of Feb. Mamata, who is TMC chief, announced dearness allowance for thousands of state govt employees on X, saying they “will start receiving their ROPA 2009 DA arrears from March 2026 onwards as per the modalities detailed out in notifications issued by our finance department.” Calling the DA announcement a “joke”, Bengal BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari said on X, “After years of looting the state treasury and cheating them blind, this is your desperate last-minute poll gimmick? Zero accountability, zero funds, zero delivery… Classic TMC poll drama.”
