Electoral Reforms

Elections in India bring out the real character and strength of the world's largest democracy. Since the first general elections in 1952, democracy has been marching from strength to strength.

And EC has gradually been evolving and developing its own mechanisms, modalities, techniques, rules and norms to ensure an almost peaceful change of government at the national and provincial levels amidst an aura of cynicism and despondency. 

• EC is one of the most sought after Indian agencies for sharing its expertise and experience in the conduct of democratic elections across the world. 

The Election Commission has introduced several reforms from time to time in the conduct of elections which inter alia include 

• a switchover from the ballot paper to the electronic voting machine (EVM), 
• proxy voting for NRIs and those in the armed forces, 
• introduction of the partial right to reject through NOTA (None of the Above) in keeping with Section 49 of the Representation of People's Act, 1951, 
• induction of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) for reinforcing transparency in voting, 
• introduction of Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) to pre-empt impersonation and bogus voting, 
• conduct of elections under the supervision of ECI Observers and Central Police Forces (CPF), 
• use of information technology for improving the level of efficiency and transparency,
•  a bar on contesting for convicted criminals and 
• introduction of a Model Code of Conduct during the elections. 

Problem with EVM:-

• A negative feature of EVM voting is that the contesting candidates or political parties get to know which polling stations have voted for them and which have not, something which was not possible in the ballot voting system as all the ballot papers of a particular constituency were duly bundled and mixed before they were actually counted.

The latter made it difficult to figure out the voting trends. However, one can easily ascertain from the EVM counting process, such as it exists, as to which set of voters has favoured a candidate or a political party thereby making it possible to identify the rival voters and victimize them in various ways. 

EC has already suggested to the Government of India the introduction of 'Totalizer' which would pre-empt any such negative eventuality of witch hunting the hapless voters for their democratic choice, as witnessed in many regions of the country. 

Money power influence:-

The EC's effort to cleanse the electoral system of the negative influence of money power will come to nought once it expects the candidates to spend their own money on election campaigns. 

• Many political parties argue that if the EC expects a candidate to spend the permissible amount (Rs.70 lakh for a parliamentary constituency and Rs 28 lakh for an Assembly constituency on an average), then how does it expect them to marshal that amount for the campaign.

The political parties or the candidates are forced to indulge in corruption and corrupt practices because of the huge cost of an Indian election. 

Hence the suggestion offered by certain quarters that EC should not only increase the expenditure ceilings which are absurd given the size of constituencies, but they should also be customized to the nature and character of the constituency.

• After all, the expenditure requirements of a rural or urban constituency or a big or small state can't be the same. Again, while the expenditure ceiling for an Assembly constituency is Rs.28 lakh, it is a meager Rs.70 lakh for a parliamentary constituency even though the latter covers seven Assembly constituencies. Therefore, these expenditure ceilings need to be staggered and customized after factoring the real expenditure requirements of the different constituencies.

A legal discrepancy is the fact that even if a contesting candidate exceeds the stipulated expenditure ceiling, he/she can't be disqualified as a legislator.

In the ultimate analysis, the expenditure ceiling remains a paper tiger. 

State Funding of Election Expense:-

• Another very important proposal has been the state funding of election expenses of candidates. 
• While the proposal involves huge expenditure for a poor, developing country like India, a beginning can definitely be made with respect to election expenses of, at least, recognized national and state parties polling above a certain percentage of votes and meeting such other conditions as may be specified by EC. 
• Funding of political parties by corporate houses or businessmen is also quite opaque. This needs to be streamlined and made further transparent for weeding out the influence of ill-gotten money and for ensuring a level playing field in our electoral system.

Democratization of Political Parties:-

Another incongruity is the existence of undemocratic political parties in a democratic country. 

While all our political parties swear by democracy and democratic ethos, they themselves run some of the most undemocratic organisations in the country. 

Most of these parties seldom conduct their organisational elections. Party posts are allotted as a favour from the party leaders. 

• Elevation to any party's apex level is very opaque. By and large, party functionaries are selected rather than than elected. 
• Haryana has stipulated the minimum educational and other qualifications, including the provision of a sanitary toilet at home, for being eligible to contest elections to the local bodies. 
• It has been argued that similar minimum qualifications, educational or economic, ought to be introduced for our legislators as well. 
• The usual refrain is that if there could be minimum qualification for a peon or a clerk, then why not for our lawmakers who also hold such significant positions as Ministers, Chief Minister or Prime Minister.
• Even though such a stipulation could bar a large percentage of our population from participating in electoral politics, the time has definitely come to start a debate on the advisability of such a qualification.

Model Code of Conduct:-

The model code, which the EC enforces so strictly, is often overdone. And if elections are stretched over two to three months, the development projects almost come to a halt. 

Even though certain essential projects are allowed, the approval procedures are so rigorous that more often than not many welfare schemes suffer. 

• Such schemes and programmes, which have been announced and budgeted prior to the announcement of elections, should be allowed to be executed without any conditions. 

The announcement of new schemes by the interim government may continue to be banned. The time has come to trust the wisdom of voters to see through the machinations of the political class and be able to separate the chaff from the grain.

source:statesman