Commissions

UNIT 10(C) ELECTION COMMISSION

Introduction
The fundamental pursuit of democracy is elections at regular intervals. Holding
periodic, and free and fair elections are essentials of a democratic system and are
a fundamental aspect of the Constitution. The Election Commission is regarded,
as India’s guardian of elections. The Constitution of India has made provision
under Article 324 for constitution of an independent Election Commission (EC)
for the conduct of free and fair elections in the country. With effect from 1989 all
political parties were required to register with the Commission.

Composition
As per the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners
(Conditions of Service) Rules, 1992, the CEC ( who are usually retired IAS(EC)
officers), will draw salaries and allowances at par with those of the Judges of
the Supreme Court of India. The Commission’s secretariat is based in New Delhi
and has the offices of EC, EC Deputy ECs (usually IAS officers), Director
Generals, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, and Under Secretaries.
The CEC of India can be removed from office, as per the rules prevailing in case
of a judge of the Supreme Court of India1. The ECs can be removed by the
President of India on the advice of the CEC.

Functions
The power and functions of the EC outlined in Article 324-Article329 of the
Constitution are being discussed, as follows:
1) The EC supervises, directs, controls, and conducts free and fair elections in
the country.
2) It prepares the electoral rolls of each constituency of Lok Sabha, as also of
the State Vidhan Sabha (lower house of the legislative assembly). The
electoral rolls are revised and updated after every decadal census and also
before every election.
3) In order to conduct the elections in a fair and impartial manner, the EC
determines and announces the code of conduct for every election. Starting
in 1971 with the 5th Lok Sabha elections, the Commission has issued for
each and every election advisory Model Code of Conduct guidelines to be
adhered to by political parties and candidates. This was based on the
observation of instances of violation of the rules and regulations by various
political parties with complaints being received for misuse of official
machinery by the candidates. The Model Code does not have any specific
statutory basis but only a persuasive effect. It contains the rules of electoral
morality.

4) It conducts the elections to the Lok Sabha and State Vidhan Sabhas, whenever
an election is due. It also conducts the elections to the Rajya Sabha (upper
house of the Parliament) after every two years, as and how 1/3 of its members
1
A two-thirds majority resolution passed by the Parliament of India (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha)
122 outlining the grounds of misbehavior or incapacity.
 retire after every 2 years. It is responsible for conducting elections to the Election Commission
Vidhan Parishads in the same manner (upper house of State legislature,
wherever they exist) in the same manner. It also holds bye-elections.

5) It conducts the elections to the office of President of India and Vice President
of India, whenever due. It prepares the list of voters and works out the quota
of votes along with the weightage and the value of each vote of Electoral
College required to win the election.
6) In order to conduct the elections, the EC can demand the services of
personnel, who are working in Central and State governments. The Central
and State governments are required to send such personnel for the election
duties. These personnel are appointed, as the Returning Officers/Presiding
Officers/ other polling officers, who are assigned the respective duties, as
per. Such deputed staff are guided and controlled by the EC.
7) After every General Election, the EC grants recognition to the political
parties, as to whether they are the parties at the National or State level. A
political party should get a minimum of four percent of the total valid votes
polled in a minimum of four states to be recognized, as a national party.
Similarly in the States, a political party should get a minimum of four percent
of the total valid votes polled in the respective State to be recognized, as a
State party.
8) Commission has the power to designate political party insignia and no two
different political parties are allowed to use the same insignia.
9) It set limits on poll expenses.
10) The Commission is empowered with prohibition of dissemination or
publication of voting trends by opinion polls or exit polls that can seek to
influence voters.
11) In an attempt to decriminalize politics, the EC has approached the Supreme
Court to put a lifetime ban on convicted politicians from contesting elections.

Initiatives towards Modernization

1) To curb the growing influence of money during elections, the EC has
appointed Indian Revenue Service Officers of the Income Tax Department,
as Election Observers (Expenditure) for all elections and has fixed the legal
limits on the amount of money, which a candidate can spend during election
campaigns. These limits have been revised over time. The EC, by appointing
expenditure observers from the IRS, keeps an eye on the individual account
of election expenditure. The Commission takes details of the candidate’s
assets on affidavit at the time of submitting nomination paper, along with
the details of his/her expenditure within 30 days of the declaration of results.
The campaign period has also been reduced by the Commission from 21 to
14 days for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. This has been one of the
measures along with the above to cut down election expenditure.

2) The Election Commission has brought in improvements in election

procedures by the introduction of Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs2. It
was first tried out on an experimental basis in the State of Kerala for the 123
Commissions 1982 legislative assembly elections. After successful testing and the legal
inquiries per se, the Commission took the decision to begin with the use of
these voting machines. In 2015, the initiative to have photo electoral rolls
with photographs of the candidates on the EVMs was undertaken in the
Bihar Legislative Assembly election in 2015, making it the first state to
have such an intiative undertaken.

3) In 1993, electors photo identity cards (EPICs) were issued, which became
mandatory by the 2004 elections. However ration cards have been allowed
for election purposes in certain situations. All this are efforts of EC to prevent
electoral fraud.

4) The EC launched its own web site on 28 February 1998 in order to provide
accurate information, management, administration, and instant results of
the elections. The ECI website is accessible to all users irrespective of device
in use, technology, or ability. It has been built with an aim to provide
maximum accessibility and usability to its visitors. It has put in the best
efforts to ensure that all information on the portal is accessible to people
and also people with disabilities. For example, a user with visual disability
can access this portal using assistive technologies, such as screen readers
and magnifiers. The EC aims to be standards compliant and follow principles
of usability and universal design, which helps all visitors of this portal.

5) In 1998, the Commission decided on a programme for computerization of

electoral rolls.

6) ‘Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation Programme,’ better

known as SVEEP, a flagship Programme of the EC since 2009, aims to
build a truly participative democracy in India by encouraging all eligible
citizens to vote and make an informed decision during voting. The
Programme is based on general as well as targeted interventions. It is designed
according to the socio-economic, cultural, and demographic profile of the
State as well as the history of electoral participation in previous rounds of
elections and learnings thereof. SVEEP facilitates voter education, voter
awareness, and promotion of voter literacy in India.

7) The introduction of Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in general

elections in eight Lok Sabha constituencies in 2014 was a big achievement
for the EC. This VVPAT system was first used with EVMs in a by-poll in
September 2013 in Noksen Assembly Constituency in Nagaland and
eventually in all legislative elections from September 2013 onwards in the
country. As the name signifies, it verifies that the vote has been cast to a
particular political party, as intended by the voter. If there is a mismatch
between candidate wise results of the EVM and VVPAT slips, manual re-
counting of VVPAT slips shall be conducted till the votes tally. If they do
not, the counting, as per the VVPAT slips shall be considered, as final.

8) With the VVPAT, the EC looks forward to achieving the aim of building a
stronger democracy through greater synergy with civil society organizations,

2
It is voting using electronic means of casting and counting votes. The EVMs would reduce
124 malpractices and authencity of votes to political parties.
 media, corporate houses, and even queries, suggestions, and participation Election Commission
from individuals. The EC has a robust, systematic, and institutionalized
structure of interface and interaction between the EVMs, and VVPATs, and
candidates or representatives of political parties, and election officials. Such
a mandatory involvement of stakeholders in each and every operation of
EVMs and VVPATs imbues the entire system with absolute transparency
thereby completely eliminating any possibility of manipulation with
machines.

9) In 2014, ‘None Of The Above’ (NOTA) was also added, as an option on the
voting machines, which is now a mandatory option to be provided in any
election.3

However, there has been always an issue of independence and impartiality in the
functioning of EC. First the Constitution of India is silent about the qualification
and the tenure of the CEC. Every matter in this connection has been left to the
President, who is guided by provisions of law, as enacted by the Parliament. This
can lead to appointment of a person purely on political considerations. As per
the Goswami Report, there has to be a based committee for the same with Prime
Minister, Leader of Opposition, Speaker of Lok Sabha(lower house of
Parliament), and Chief Justice of India, as its members. The Committee can, as
per appoint a panel of persons for the post.

Second, the CEC, though entrusted with the work of conducting the elections
fairly, has no right to recruit or regulate the conditions of service of its staff, a
right, which is available to similar bodies like the Supreme Court and the Union
Public Service Commission.

Activity
How has the EC faired so far in India in conduct of election?

References
Core-Committee on Electoral Reforms, Background Paper on Electoral
Reforms, 2010, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice,
Government of India, Co-sponsored by the Election Commission of India
Goswami Report on the Committee on Electoral Reforms, 1990, Ministry
of Law and Justice, Government of India
The next commission we will be discussing is the Finance Commission.

125