Elections and Electoral Reforms

Election Commission

• Election Commission of India (ECI) is federal body provided for in the Indian Constitution.

• It is responsible for monitoring and administering all electoral processes of India.

• Ensures:
  Free and fair elections that are devoid of bias.
  Conduct of members pre-elections, during elections and post-elections are as per statutory legislation.

• Election related disputes are handled by ECI.

• When enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with a certain situation during the conduct of elections, ECI has the residuary powers under the Constitution to act in an appropriate manner.
  Article 324 vests “in an Election Commission” the “superintendence, direction and control of elections”.
  The Supreme Court judgement in Mohinder Singh Gill & Anr vs The Chief Election Commissioner and Others (1977) held that Article 324 “operates in areas left unoccupied by legislation.
  It was noted that Constitution left the scope of Residuary Power to Commission.

Certain Important Procedures

• Candidates file their nomination papers with ECI after which a list of candidates is made.

• Parties cannot use Government resources for campaigning.
  Campaigning must end by 6 pm, 2 days before polling day.

• Collector of each district is in charge of polling.
  Polling is held from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm with Government officers as poll officers at polling stations.

• Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are used to prevent rigging of elections, as opposed to ballot boxes.

POI – EVMs were first used in the 1997 election and became the only method of voting in 2004. They are time savers when it comes to counting results. Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was introduced on 14 August 2014; it produces a paper slip, called ballot slip, that contains the name, serial number, and image of the candidate selected by the voter for his vote. VVPAT and EVMs have been used in every assembly and the general election in India since 2019. Post the 2019 general election, ECI declared that there were no mismatches between EVM and VVPAT.

Important – In case of discrepancy between VVPAT and EVM results, printed paper slips count is taken as final.

• Citizen has his/her left index finger marked by indelible ink after casting vote. This procedure is being practiced since 1962.

• Negative vote can be exercised through ‘None of The Above’ (NOTA) option (since 2013).

• Physical presence at the voting booth is mandatory.

• Postal voting is accessible by –
  Service Voters (employees of Armed Forces and their wives, employees of Government posted abroad)
  - Disabled citizens
  - Citizens above age of 80
  - Citizens in preventive detention

Current Affairs POI – Recently, senior citizens above the age of 65 and voters who test positive for COVID-19 or are suspected to be COVID-19 affected were allowed to cast their vote by post.

• Prisoners do not have the right to vote.

Electoral Reforms

Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has highlighted two issues in India’s experience with democracy –

• Misuse of money power in politics and elections, and

• Attempts to entice voters with short-term benefits (populist schemes for electoral advantage) at the cost of governance, adversely impacting long term interests of the poor, and the middle class.

So what are Electoral Reforms?

Electoral Reforms basically means introduction of the best practices in ensuring better democracy, clean politics, fair elections, ideal members of legislative houses, true representation etc.

Need for Electoral Reforms

Prominent issues in India’s electoral politics –

• Money and Muscle Power
  Campaigning, publicity, general party expenses in almost every constituency exceed permissible limit of expenses. Expenditure which is accounted for and legitimate is a small percentage of actual costs.
  - High electioneering costs leads to corruption.
  - Reports of violence, booth capturing, threatening, intimidation and other illegal means are common nationwide practices during elections.
  - Illegal means of coercion such as giving out ‘freebies’, food supplies at cheapest rates, electronic devices, etc. to voters in return for their vote.
  - Paid misinformation via news giving out fake reports on opposing parties in order to deceive voters destroy the concept of ‘free and fair’ elections.
  - Vote buying displaces able politicians from posts of MP/MLA, and gives it to rich candidates instead.

POI – Out of 533 candidates elected to the 17th Lok Sabha (2019-present), 475 Parliamentarians (accounting for 88%) are ‘crore-patis’ (multimillionaires) implying ‘Rich Parliamentarians, Poor Indians’.

• Floating of non-serious candidates by parties to cut down rival candidate’s votes.

• Caste/communal practices, such as providing incentives to certain caste/religious groups in return for their votes, or candidate winning over people on grounds of having same caste/religion etc., defeats the whole purpose of democracy and equality.

• Misuse of Government machinery by party currently in power during elections leading to misuse of public funds as well as unfair advantage on electoral playground.

Criminalization of Politics and Politicization of Criminals (A Case Study)

• Anti-social elements, and convicted criminals enter electoral politics owing to the strong nexus between criminals and some politicians through loopholes in the current system.

• Criminals are able to make it in the political arena because of their financial clout.
  These criminals have sufficient money and muscle power to win them elections for political parties that are only too eager to oblige such a ‘winnable candidate’.

• Parties field criminals in elections in return for their funds and muscle, providing them with political patronage and protection, and immunity from cases against them.

• Why does Criminalization of Politics persist?
  Previous Court judgements and laws have not been implemented effectively.
  Anonymous feature in Electoral Bonds (2017) – ‘neither the donor nor the political party is obligated to reveal whom the donation comes from’ allows element of secrecy in political funding.
  Criminal Justice System is ambiguous on the repercussions of not following recent orders.
  Due to a flawed justice system, it is observed that conviction rates for politicians is very small, down to just 6% in criminal cases.
  In effect, ‘politicians’ with a criminal record go unpunished and are not barred from contesting further elections.