IAS Officers As 'Rath Prabharis': Election Commission Directs Centre Not To Hold Proposed Yatra In Poll-Bound States

The government's plan to appoint bureaucrats as "district rath prabharis (special officers)" for a country-wide mega election rally will have to be put on hold after the Election Commission on Thursday asked the government not to carry out the proposed Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, its mega outreach programme on schemes and initiatives, in the five election-bound states till December 5.

In a letter to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, the Election Commission also asked the government not to appoint "district rath prabharis" in the poll-bound states and the Tapi constituency of Nagaland where by-election is scheduled to be held. "It has been brought to the notice of the Commission that a letter has been circulated to the ministries for nomination of senior officers as 'District Rath Praharis' as special officers for the proposed 'Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra' starting from 20th November, 2023," the Commission said.

Elections have been announced in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. "...Commission has directed that the aforesaid activities should not be taken in the constituencies where Model Code of Conduct is in force up till 5th December, 2023," the Commission said. The government on Thursday made it clear that the yatra will skip the poll-bound states.

In an informal interaction with reporters, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra said a decision has been taken to drop the word 'rath' to refer to the vehicles publicising government schemes across 2.55 lakh gram panchayats and nearly 18,000 locations in urban areas. "There is no plan to start the 'Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra' in election-bound states where the model code of conduct is in place. In poll-bound states the yatra will start when the model code of conduct is lifted," Chandra said.

Earlier, in an open letter to President Droupadi Murmu, retired IAS officer E A S Sarma and co-founder of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) Jagdeep Chhokar urged her to intervene in stopping the government’s plan to use bureaucrats for publicising its achievements through a “yatra”. He had said that such a move would result in "anarchy and erosion of democratic values that are central to the electoral system envisaged in our Constitution."