An Open Letter on
Election Process in the country[1]
Dear Chief Election
Commissioner
India is in the grip of election fever since 5th
March 2014 when the Election Commission(EC) announced the schedule for the General
Election 2014. According to the Press
Note of the EC dated 05 March 2014, the 16th Lok
Sabha election for 534 Parliament Constituencies (PCs), Assembly election for three states viz., Andhra
Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim and By-election to a number of Assembly constituencies
which have fallen vacant in other states will be held. The election to all the above constituencies
will be held in nine stages beginning from 7 April 2014 and which go up to 12 May 2014. After witnessing
the way the election campaigns are being carried on by various political
parties, the media (visual and print),
the complaints against candidates on violation of code of conduct, etc., as a citizen of this great country I would
like to share my thoughts and make certain specific suggestions for
consideration of the Election Commission. Of course, I know that none of these suggestions would be
implementable during the present course of the election as just a couple of stages of polling are
scheduled to be held . But, I am sure,
they will merit consideration for the next election.
I have attempted to do an environment analysis and look at five
major aspects viz., Overall
preparedness, Time for candidates for filling nomination, Campaign duration
allowed for candidates,Multi-scheduling of polling dates, Missing Millions, and Number of Political Parties in the country. Under each of these, I have examined the
extant guidelines of the EC and given my observations. Surely, my first observation is to compliment
the EC for the humongous task on its hand in ensuring fair and free election
in the country.
i.
Overall preparedness:
a.
Extant guidelines of the EC: The EC is aware
that the 15th Lok Sabha would be ending its present term by 31 May
2014. The first meeting on the plan of conducting the 16th Lok Sabha
election was kick-started on 4 Feb 2014 when the EC convened its meeting with
all the recognized National and State Political Parties. The first date of election was 07 April 2014.
b.
Observations:
It meant that the EC has
considered that just two months as sufficient for gearing up the entire
machinery and ensure their preparedness in taking up various
responsibilities envisaged by the EC in its Press Note of 5th
March. The EC may claim that almost all
the political parties are aware that the elections would be held in April-May
2014. So, they have commenced their preparations, strategies, selection of
candidates etc., much before the official announcement of schedule of election
by the EC. But, a number of political parties would have got very little time-
hardly a month to organize themselves
and do all that is needed for facing the election. The time given by the EC
appears to be inadequate to provide level playing field for all the political
parties. Of course, the EC can take
steps only if it is assured that the present ruling party/ies would complete
its term as in the present case of UPA
II. Hypothetically, when a ruling
team is voted out in the
Parliament that forces President’s Rule on the country, then the EC would get a
clear six months[2] to conduct the next election. In the present
case of UPA II, the EC could have announced its plan to hold the present
election as early as December 2013 instead of March 2014. If we look at the way
the election preparations are handled in USA more than a year the actual date
of election, perhaps a few lessons can be learnt. Of course, unlike in USA where the dates of election to the post of the President
are pre-determined and fixed, in India there is no certainty about the date of
the General Elections. Never the less,
the EC has a clear six months to announce its schedule of election dates in
India which would have been used in the present case. Perhaps, this may be
followed in the next (17th Lok Sabha / Assembly) elections.
ii.
Time for candidates:
a.
Extant Guidelines: Each candidate is given one
week for filing his / her nomination from the date of notification by the EC
for a specific Parliament Constituency /Assembly Constituency. For example, if
the date of notification by the EC is 14 March 2014, the last date for filing
nomination is 21 March 2014 and withdrawal is 24th March 2014.
b.
Observations:
In continuation of my observations made above, if the announcement of
schedule is made by the EC in December 2013, then most of the candidates would
have got their nominations accepted and
would have given time for them to start the election preparedness. In addition,
the EC should make the last date for filling nomination of candidates uniform for
all the constituencies in the country irrespective
of the date of election for a particular constituency. In the present case, say
for instance, for Varnasi constituency, speculation about the names of
candidates was in the air for a long time after the actual elections for
various constituencies in the country have been completed. The General election
to Lok Sabha should be taken as a single event and not separate events and the
pre-poll events should be freezed
uniformly across the country. For example, in the present case, the last date
for filling nominations might have been uniformly fixed as 21 March 2014 for
all the constituencies in the country. This would save the work and resources
of the EC across the country and concentrate on the election process which are
more resource crunching.
iii.
Campaign duration:
a.
Extant Guidelines: Campaign for any constituency
to end two days before the date of election.
b.
Observations: We are in a world where technology
has annihilated time and distance. For
example, Political parties are making their presence in the TV channels almost
every day. They use the internet,
twitter and other systems to be in touch with their potential candidates and
continue to market their parties. Say
for instance, the visual media provides space for the leaders of political parties
to come and make their points heard even though they may not refer to a
particular constituency. So, the extant guidelines of the EC are observed more
in breach and it may need to be reviewed and if needed be dispensed with as it
does not seem to serve any purpose.
iv.
Multi-scheduling of polling dates:
a.
Extant Guidelines: In the present case of
elections to the 16th Lok Sabha, the EC has announced nine stages of
polling covering 534 Lok Sabha seats,
three state elections and some of the bi-elections to assembly segments.
b.
Observations: I am not sure of any specific
guidelines to have the elections spread over a period of time. But, given the
intensity of campaigning, the quality of campaigning is reaching a new low with
each passing day. It has been becoming more personal ignoring larger issues
affecting the country and the people at large.
With technology in full blaze, the proceedings of election campaign give
a sick feeling and there is a sense of fatigue among the citizens watching the
proceedings going on. Almost every State
Election Commission offices are inundated with more than 1000 complaints about
violation of code of conduct which mainly on inappropriate / false allegations
against the party candidates etc. It is
also practically impossible for the EC/ State offices of EC to examine all
these complaints and take actions and pronounce punishments wherever needed. Moreover, the enormous responsibility rests
with the state machinery in various
states to keep constant vigil in
guarding the election machines (EVMs)
from being tampered with, stolen, destroyed till the 16 May 2014 when the
results are scheduled to be announced.
For the election held on 7th April 2014, the responsibility
will be very over-bearing for the security forces to hold these EVMs for over a
month . In fact, the election to these
remote areas could have been held in the last stage as it would have reduced
the risk of the safety of EVMs as these
areas are more vulnerable than other places.
So, if the time for duration of election schedule is reduced to the
minimum, it would have avoided the
enormous energy and cost on. Suggestion
is to divide the election constituencies into
four broad categories: i. very
safe locations; ii. Safe locations; iii. Difficult access/ risky locations; iv.
Very difficult/ very risky locations.
Elections should be held to each of the four locations on a particular
date across the country in the above order.
This would reduce the number of dates of elections to four dates for the
whole country. With technology in place, EVMs under use, this is a feasible
one. This will reduce the enormous resources needed to mobilize the
police/security forces to keep them on toes which is about one and a half month (40 days ) in the
present election schedule. I also do not
see any country where elections are held for such a long period of about one
and a half month. I reiterate that with
technology in place, it is feasible to make the elections held in a shorter
span of time than the present nine stages scheduled.
v.
Missing Millions:
a.
Electorates:
There will be 814.5 million electorates who would exercise their voting
rights in the 16th Lok Sabha elections.
b.
Observations:
There were huge number of eligible voters not finding their names in the
voters list (Mr Parek of HDFC fame is one who does not find his name). I am
also one of those unfortunates who did not find my name in the voters’ list
though I am a permanent resident of Pune for about eight years. Besides, iI also understand that certain category of defense personnel do not get their voting exercised. So too, huge number of NRIs who may not be able to use
the services of Indian Missions abroad for casting their votes in the election.
Another significant category is those whose names are in the list but out of
station on the date of polling due to
variety of compelling circumstances (marriage, death, hospitalization, official
engagements etc). These otherwise eligible voters also miss out from exercising
their right to vote. Such of these
eligible voters and those who are missed out of the voters’ list, provision should be made to exercise their
votes in a separately designed machine (with technology this is a feasible
one) in the nearest polling booth
provided they are able to show anyone of the listed documents (EC may follow
KYC norms of banks) to the polling officials as proof of identity and address.
vi.
Number of Political Parties:
a.
Extant Guidelines: It appears that no specific
guidelines available to limit the number of political parties can function in
the country.
b.
Observations: It is an open statement that there are a very large number of parties fighting the present
election . According to the EC website (10 March 2014), there are six
National Parties, about 50 State
Parties and 1593 registered and unregistered parties[3]
in the country. The list is increasing with more parties registered with the EC
since the last reference date mentioned above.
Dr Abdul Kalam, Former President of the country had expressed that ‘Every general election has shown the results
that people are selecting leaders who focus on economic development in the
state and at the centre. The ensuing general election is all the more important
as there will be a dynamic change in peoples’ choice of the right type of
leadership. I want a two-party system. Even though there are a number of
parties in the system, but within a decade or two, India will also move towards
a two- or three-party system. That is an ideal system which will have
convergence and decision making will be faster.’ It is high time, this issue is addressed
squarely and steps taken by the EC to
bring norms for registering a political party, at national level and state
level in the country. In any case, community / caste based parties
should be denied to get registration as a political party.
Since the dates for next general
election are pretty far away, the EC may
work on the technology based solution to make it possible for all eligible
voters to exercise their votes irrespective of their presence in the area of
polling of booth.
[1] By
Dr S Santhanam PhD(Eco), General Manager (Retd), NABARD, Pune. Residence: D 9
Amrapalishree CHS Ltd, Near Aga Khan Palace, Yerawada, Pune 411006. M: +91
9850839776.
[2]
85. "Sessions of Parliament, prorogation and
dissolution.- (1) The President shall from time to time summon each House of
Parliament to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months
shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date
appointed for its sitting in the next session.
(2) The
President may from time to time -
(a)
prorogue the Houses or either House;
(b)
dissolve the House of the People."
http://lawyersupdate.co.in/LU/4/951.asp
[3] http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/ElectoralLaws/OrdersNotifications/year2014/EnglishNotification_12032014.pdf
