Reforming the Indian Electoral System

                                                                                                *Saumitra Mohan

            While the many Cassandras and prophets of doom kept predicting the failure of Indian democracy because of her humongous size and mind-boggling diversities, India not only has continued to survive in one piece but has actually grown stronger than ever before. Notwithstanding certain institutional weaknesses and some structural problems, the country through carefully nurtured democratic infrastructures and superstructures built up one of the most vibrant liberal democracy. And one of the institutions which has never failed us and has always stood the test of time is the Election Commission of India (ECI).

            Elections in India bring out the real character and strength of the world’s largest democracy. Since the first general elections in 1952, Indian democracy has been marching from strength to strength adding more and more feathers to our body politic. And ECI 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 ambience of cynicism and despondency. Today, ECI is one of the most sought after Indian agencies for sharing its expertise and experience in the conduct of democratic elections across the world. However, the critics and observers have been pointing to many problem areas in our electoral system and have accordingly suggested certain electoral reforms to make our democracy further stronger.

            Be it noted that ECI has introduced several reforms from time to time in the conduct of elections in the country which inter alia include switch-over from ballot paper to electronic voting machine (EVM), proxy voting for NRI and service voters, introduction of partial right to rejection 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 the 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 bringing further efficiency and transparency in the conduct of elections, bar from contesting elections for the convicted criminals and introduction of a Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during the elections. However, there still remain certain areas crying for attention.

            First and foremost, one negative offshoot of EVM voting is the fact that the contesting candidates or the political parties get to know as to 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 well-nigh difficult to figure out the voting trends. However, one can easily find out from the EVM counting process, 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. It is learnt that ECI 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 choices as experienced in many regions of the country.

            The critics feel that ECI’s all effort to cleanse the electoral system of the negative influence of money power goes down the drain once it expects the candidates to spend their own money on election campaigns. Many political parties argue that if the ECI expects a candidate to spend the permissible, within-ceiling 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 money for the campaign. The political parties or the candidates are forced to indulge in corruption and corrupt practices because of the huge financial requirements of an Indian election. That is why, many have suggested that ECI should not only increase these expenditure ceilings which are absurd given the size of the constituency, 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 expenditure ceiling for an Assembly constituency is 28 lakhs, it’s a measly 70 lakhs for Parliamentary constituency even though the latter has seven Assembly constituencies comprising it. Hence, these expenditure ceilings need to be staggered and customized after factoring the real expenditure requirements of the different constituencies. A big legal discrepancy here is the fact that even if a contesting candidate exceeds ECI stipulated expenditure ceiling, he/she can’t be disqualified to be a legislator. So, in effect, the expenditure ceiling remains a paper tiger in the ultimate analysis.

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

            Another incongruity pointed out by the critics is the existence of undemocratic political parties in a democratic country. While all our political parties vouch for 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 to elect various functionaries. Organisational positions and posts are handed out as a favour from the party bosses. Entry into a political party’s managerial positions is very opaque. Being dynastic, party functionaries are mostly selected than elected.

            States like Haryana have shown ways by stipulating minimum educational and other qualifications including owning a sanitary toilet for being eligible to contest elections to the local bodies. It has long been argued that similar minimum qualifications, educational or economic, are introduced for our legislators as well. The usual refrain being 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 like Ministers, Chief Minister or Prime Minister. Even though such a stipulation could bar a huge percentage of our population from participating in electoral politics, a time has definitely come to start debating the advisability of such a qualification.

            The MCC stipulations and norms which ECI so religiously and steadfastly enforces during elections often seem to have gone overboard. Now that elections are stretched over two to three months, the developmental works almost come to a screeching halt. Even though emergent and critical works are allowed but the approval procedures are so rigorous that more often than not many welfare and developmental interests of the common people stand compromised. Hence, it is suggested that all 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 though announcement of new schemes by interim government may continue to be banned. Time has come to trust the wisdom of voters to see through the machinations of the political class to actually tell the chaff from the grain.

            Post-poll violence has come out as another area of concern in recent times. It has often been noticed that voters and workers of opposition or rival factions/parties are victimized once the elections are over. Ergo, it is suggested that not only CPF should continue for, at least, a month after the results are announced, but ECI should also take initiative to evolve an MCC for non-election times so that cadres and workers of political parties coexist peacefully and operate without fear or favour after the elections. Such an MCC should also stipulate against any incendiary or vandalistic politics including holding of strike or bandh, lockout or sit-in (dharna) or destruction of public properties in furtherance of their political interests or demands. It should also be made mandatory for the contesting candidates to ensure the removal of defacement from the private properties which is never done once the elections are over. The Apex Court has already given specific rulings in this regard. The same should be strictly enforced and the onus to compensate against such destructions should be on the organisers of such vandalistic politics.

            Even though paid news are religiously monitored and guarded against as one of the important tenets of MCC, still ECI has found it very difficult to actually identify paid news by a section of the media. Paid or not paid, different media houses often appear to be hugely tied to the coattails of one or the other political party. Some of these media houses have often turned out to be interested players taking clear side of one or the other party. The same could be easily noticed in the way they present or project their stories or news. The wide variations in the projections of an exit or opinion polls or an electoral survey also give a tell-tale hint of their alignment with one or the other political party. Again, ECI’s paid news norms are silent on the party mouthpieces, something which need to be clarified. So, ECI should definitely come out more clearly and strongly against the direct or indirect identification of some media houses with one or the other political party.

            It has been usually noticed that ECI effects a huge number of transfer of officials at various levels in the run-up to the elections. While all these transfers are sought and justified by the opposition parties, the ruling party has often been found to be aggrieved. Often, these transfers have been done just a day or two before the election which, many believe, do not serve the purpose as they come off as mere cosmetic changes. As most of these transfers are made on the basis of unverified complaints, assumptions or presumptions, usually no disciplinary proceedings are initiated against any of these officers. As these officers are never given an opportunity of being heard or explaining themselves, the transfers not only harm their reputation but also violate the tenets of natural justice. The officers transferred are forever tarnished for being aligned or prejudiced and their services are never taken for any future ECI elections because of the chip on their shoulder.

            Another problem noticed during the recent West Bengal elections was regarding proclamation under section 144 Cr.PC during the 48 hours before elections, something which is done in every election. But the way the 144 proclamation was made and enforced during the recent West Bengal Assembly elections, many felt the same was overdone as it almost amounted to curfew on the day of election, much to the detriment of the political interests of many candidates. Those doing 144 announcements were not trained and often gave the impression of a curfew being imposed on the day of poll thereby dissuading many voters from coming out to vote. Coming in the wake of heavy deployment and route marches by CPF, such a move further backfired. ECI definitely needs to think through and evolve a protocol for doing the same more discreetly in future to ward against any such eventuality.

            Compulsory voting has also been recommended by many given the apathy of a substantive number of voters to come out to vote. Many of us are often found cursing the government of the day for doing or not doing a something but we ourselves have been found wanting in shouldering the responsibility bestowed on us by the Constitution of India i.e. exercise of our franchise at the hustings in favour or against a particular candidate which later decides the nature and character of the Government in power.

            Hence, it is argued that voting must be made mandatory and compulsory for the voters to have a more representative government unlike a government ruling on depleted voter support. It is further argued that a candidate should, at least, poll a minimum 51 percent of votes before being declared elected. It is also suggested that since our first past the post system does not reflect the real mandate of the people, hence proportional representation could be toyed with so as to give our parliament a more representative character. So a political parties polling 40 percent votes should have at least 40 percent seats in the legislature. However, critics have warned against such a system because of its complications and unsuitability to the complexities of our plural society.

            In these times of information technology and against a background when the government has the finger and iris prints of all the citizens in the country through Aadhaar Card, it is suggested that ECI should start exploring the possibility of online voting making it possible for more and more Indian nationals to participate in the electoral process from anywhere in the world. At least, the finger and iris prints should soon be implanted in the EPIC cards for removing any possibility of impersonation.

            As the fate of our democracy depends on the efficiency and effectiveness of the election machinery and the level playing field it ensures to the different stakeholders in the system, it is very much advisable that ECI does start discussing and debating some of these reforms in the extant electoral system for making our elections more free, fair and peaceful to the satisfaction of all. One is sure that ECI shall come true to the expectations and faith reposed in it to carry out the task as enshrined in Article 324 of the Indian Constitution.

*The views expressed here are personal and don’t reflect those of the Government.