Lesson 4 Electoral Reforms Important Notes

 Lesson 4 Electoral Reforms

Elections form the most important and fundamental part of politics in a democratic system of governance. Over the years, Indian electoral system suffers from serious ailments. The election process in our country is gripped in political corruption, muscle and money power etc. The ideal conditions require that an honest who is public spirited and desires to serve the people, should be able to contest and get elected as people’s representatives.

Historical Study of Electoral Reforms: First, such major concern for Electoral Reforms was discernible in 1971 when a Joint Parliamentary Committee on Amendments to Election Law was appointed in pursuance of a motion adopted in the Lok Sabha and concurred by Rajya Sabha on 22, June and 25, June 1975, respectively. Under the chairmanship of Jagannath Rao, the Committee submitted the report in 1972.

In 1974, Jayaprakash Narayan as President of the Citizens for Democracy (CFD) set up a Committee under the chairman ship of justice V.M. Tarkunde to study and report on a scheme for Electoral Reforms to combat various forms of corrupt practice like the use of money power, misuse of official machinery, the disparity between the popular vote, and the number of seats under the present system of election, defects in existing law and administration, etc.

After the 1977 elections Janata Government was formed. For the first time that years, was the national and state political parties were given time on radio and television to broad cast election messages during the State Assembly elections. Beside passing the Constitution (forty-fourth Amendment) Act to remove distortions brought, a cabinet sub-Committee to consider proposals for Electoral Reforms. The Committee was headed by the then Union Home Minister, Charan Singh, At the same time, the then Chief Election Commissioner, S.L. Shakdhar, made significant suggestions on various issues ranging from election expenses to booth capturing.

Electoral reforms as envisaged by the Election Commission have a long history, initially the Commission used to make its recommendation for amendments to elections law and procedure and electoral reforms though its reports on general elections brought out after the completion of each general election. It is interesting to note that no major or vital changes were proposed in the basic provision of election law till 1970.

Since 1980 these recommendations have been reviewed time and again and new proposals were added to the earlier ones and sent to the Government of India.

Several reforms were initiated to improve the functioning of the election commission like the Tarkunde Committee on Electoral Reform. It suggested a multi-member body and proposed that the selection of commissioners rather than being in the hands of the Presidents alone. Supreme Court finally closed the much debated controversy over the constitution of the multi-member Election Commission by declaring the presidential ordinance constituting a multi-member Election Commission as valid.

In 1983 the Hegde Government come in power in Karnataka and put forward some suggestions for Electoral Reforms. It suggested Election Commission to be invested with the statutory powers to issue mandatory directions direct to all authorities in India-Central, State and local whether suo moto or on the complaint of an aggrieved individual or on the report of its observers who should, likewise, enjoy, statutory authority. The Chief Election Commission should not be eligible for any further appointment. Immediately after the issuance of notification of the elections to the Lok Sabha and to the State Assembly, the Centre or the State Government, as the case may be, should resign and function only as a care-taker government until the new government is formed.

To initiate Electoral reforms several committees are formed like Indrajit Gupta Report, the Dinesh Goswani Report, the 170 Report of the Law Commission of India on Electoral Reforms and the Election Commissions Report of Electoral Reforms in India.

Reforms brought about in the recent past are reduction of the number of campaigning days from three to two weeks’ time, raising the ceiling limit of election expenditure for contesting the Lok Sabha Elections, the right of the citizens to not cast a vote while maintaining secrecy during such abstinence with the inclusion of NOTA.

The reforms are quite adequate and admirable. Undoubtedly, the election machinery, under the aegis of the EC, deserves credit for conducting elections in a free and fair manner. To win votes, political parties’ resort to foul methods and corrupt practices. Such maladies encourage the anti-social elements to enter the electoral fray.

The problem is not lack of laws, but lack of their strict implementation. In order to stamp out these unfair tendencies, there is a need to strengthen the hands of the EC and to give it more legal and institutional powers.

Election is a soul of democracy, that not only nourishes the faith of common person in the ideals of democracy but also protect the nation from the threat of dictatorship. Electoral Reforms of radical nature can only save this glorious nation from political deterioration. Sanctity and purity of elections must be protected at any cost, as the future of India depends on it.

 

Recent Challenges to the Election Commission

The management of elections in India is continuously evolving with the phase of time . From separate ballot boxes for each candidate to the EVMs (electronic voting machines) has been a long journey. It has revolutionised the election process by bringing total transparency, efficiency and removal of human discretion.

Increase in population and increase in number of polling stations There has been an increase of about 10 crore (100 million) voters between the 2009 and 2014 general elections. It means there is need of more polling stations. About 100,000 thousand polling stations were added across the country. This also means an increase in the size of the election machinery and security personnel which is great challenge for the election commission.

Model Code of Conduct evolved with the consensus of political parties in India and is a singular significant contribution by them to the cause of democracy. The Election Commission enforces it right from the day it announces any election schedule. MCC has no statutory backing and many of its provisions are not legally enforceable. But the harsh reality is that political parties never obey the code of conduct.

First –Past- the- Post- System: One of the basic reasons for these many inconsistencies is the structural defect in the procedure of election and it is a huge challenge for the election commission. The process followed in our country is first –past- the- post- system. The ideal principle of election is the ‘majority rules principle’, whichever party gets more than 50 % votes emerge out to be victorious in the polling.

The recent challenge is related to prove the effectiveness of the EVMs. It can be tampered with while polling and second that tampering can take place while the machine is kept in the EC’s custody. But election commission have clearly subjected that the EVMs are devised to self-destruct if tampered with rather than storing that change in information.

Accordingly, the recent challenge which is in debate is, the term “One Nation One Election which is defined as structuring the Indian election cycle in a manner that elections to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies are synchronized together. In such a scenario, a voter would normally cast his/her vote for electing members of Lok Sabha and State Assembly on a single day and at the same time.

To clarify further, simultaneous elections do not mean that voting across the country for Lok Sabha and State Assemblies needs to happen on a single day. This can be conducted in a phase-wise manner as per the existing practice provided voters in a particular constituency vote for both State Assembly and Lok Sabha the same day.

The word “Delimitation” literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body. The main purpose of undertaking the delimitation exercise is to rationalize the structure and composition of the electoral constituencies.

Voting behaviours is not confined to the examination of voting statistics, records and computation of electoral shifts and swings. It also involves an analysis of individual psychological processes (perception, emotion, and motivation) and their relation to political action as well as of institutional patterns, such as the communication process and their impact on election.

Criminalization of Politics means that the criminals entering the politics and contesting elections and even getting elected to the Parliament and state legislature. It takes place primarily because of the nexus between the criminals and some of the politicians. The criminals need the patronage of politicians occupying public offices to continue with their criminal activities and the politicians need the money and muscle power that the criminals can offer to the politicians to win elections.

Electoral reform is a broad term that covers, among other things, improving the responsiveness of electoral processes to public desires and expectations. However, not all electoral change can be considered electoral reform. Electoral change can only be referred to as reform if its primary goal is to improve electoral processes.

The (Model Code of Conduct) MCC is a set of instructions to be followed by both political parties and candidates contesting elections. The MCC is a set of guidelines and instructions on general conduct, campaigning, meetings etc. during elections. The MCC is in place till the entire process of elections is complete

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Important Questions

1. What are functions and powers of the election commission?

2. What is role of election commission in the registration of political parties and allotment of symbols?

3. How the Election Commission resolves conflicts on party symbol disputes?

4. To what extent Election Commission has succeeded in preventing the criminalisation of politics?

5. How did Election Commission create amongst its citizens a sense of involvement and participation in public affairs?