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Updated – June 03, 2024 04:16 am IST
Published – June 03, 2024 12:26 am IST – Chennai
In larger interest: A man, under the RTI Act, had sought to know whether the EC had sought postponement of 2024 IPL matches so that the people could focus more on election. | Photo Credit: File photo
Did the Election Commission take any steps to postpone the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) so that the people of the country could focus on the 2024 general election? To this question raised by Raj Kapil, a Nagercoil resident, under the Right to Information Act, 2005, the EC has replied that the information sought was in the nature of “clarification” that did not come under the definition of “information”, as specified under Section 2(f) of the RTI Act.
“No information is available in this regard,” the Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO) has said. Aggrieved by the reply, Mr. Kapil, an Assistant Professor in Criminology, moved an appeal before the First Appellate Authority. He sought to know whether the EC had not asked the organisers of the IPL or the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to postpone the matches so that people could focus more on the elections, especially when the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) was organising events on the theme Elections: the biggest festival and pride of the nation.
To this, the Principal Secretary & FAA, EC, replied that the nature of information sought in the RTI application did not come under the ambit of information under the Act.
Mr. Kapil said that the 2024 IPL season, which began on March 22 and ended on May 26, majorly overlapped with the general election. The poll schedule was announced on March 16, 2024, and a call by the EC to the IPL organisers would have certainly led to the matches being postponed. Had this happened, a sizeable chunk of the country’s population would have focussed on the election and becoming informed citizenry, instead of being diverted by the game.
Besides voter awareness, the real challenge was informed voting, he said, adding, “I allege that conducting the IPL parallelly during the election period compromised informed voting. Matches were held on days when polling was held in different phases, barring May 20.”
The EC’s refusal to state the truth casts doubt on its standing in connection with the ideals enshrined in the Preamble of the RTI Act, 2005, which are to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, he said.
He further said that he would appeal before the Central Information Commission.
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