One cannot say that the Election Commission has discharged its duties in the conduct of the present Lok Sabha elections with any semblance of distinction. The 7 phases of the present Lok Sabha elections were one too many and that too spread over a 40-day period. The BJP has thus used the present election schedule to their advantage while the rest of the political parties have suffered. In Bengal, the advice from the Election Commission was that Central forces will man polling booths. By having Central forces man polling booths in Bengal, at the first level an unfamiliar situation is being created for the voters, one can say almost confrontational, since paramilitary forces are known to be rough in manner and their brusqueness will put off voters. In the enforcing of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during campaigning, the Election Commission has been irregular with no uniform policy relating to the handling of violations of the MCC across all the States and disjointed in its approach to handle major violations by senior leaders of the parties especially the BJP.
