Elections

Constitutional Provisions; ECI;

Issues, challenges and reforms.
• Article 324: Superintendence, direction,
conduct and control of elections to be vested
in Election Commission.
• Article 325: No person to be ineligible for
inclusion in, or to claim to be included in a
special, electoral roll on grounds of religion,
race, caste or sex.
• Article 326: Universal Adult Suffrage.
• Article 327: Power of Parliament to make
provision with respect to elections to
Legislatures.
• Article 328: Power of the Legislature of a state
to make provision with respect to elections to
such Legislature.
• Article 329: Bar to interference by courts in
electoral matters-
Election Commission of India (ECI)

Composition; Powers & Functions;

Reforms needed.
 Election Process
MCC; EVMs; Opinion & Exit Polls.
Model Code of Conduct (MCC)
Evolution; Provisions; Controversy
and Future.
 Evolution...
• The MCC is a unique document that owes
itself to the initiative of the political parties
themselves. It all started way back in 1960,
with the Kerala State administration taking
the lead to evolve a Code of Conduct covering
important aspects of electioneering.
• The EC circulated the document to all States for
implementation during the 1962 general election with
the consent of the political parties.
• Prior to the 1967 general election, initiatives were
taken by the Chief Ministers in Kerala, West Bengal
and Tamil Nadu.
• Uniquely, Tamil Nadu even had a standing committee
of seven persons drawn from different political parties
for overseeing the implementation of the code.
• Based on this experience, the EC prepared a document in the
interests of free and fair elections, titled ‘An Appeal to Political
parties for observance of a Minimum Code of Conduct during the
Election Propaganda’, that came to be called the Model Code of
Conduct.
• Prior to the 1979 general election, a comprehensive MCC was put
together by the EC, having, at the behest of political parties, an
emphasis on curbs to be placed on ruling parties at the Centre and
the States as serious concerns were voiced about ruling parties
appropriating common facilities or misusing government
machinery or funds.
• The EC revised and amplified the code in 1991
and thus was born the MCC in its present
form.
• It should be said to the credit of the political
parties that during the last five decades, they
have largely abided by it. Blatant violations —
deliberate and calculated — are now rare.
Provisions...
 General Conduct...
• (1) No party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate
existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between
different Castes and communities, religious or linguistic.
• (2) Criticism of other political parties, when made, shall be confined to
their policies and programme, past record and work. Parties and
Candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life, not
connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other
parties.
• (3) There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing
votes. Mosques, Churches, Temples or other places of worship shall not be
used as forum for election propaganda.
• Political parties and candidates shall ensure
that their supporters do not create
obstructions in or break up meetings and
processions Organized by other parties.
 Party in Power...
• The party in power whether at the Centre or in the State or States
concerned, shall ensure that no cause is given for any complaint
that it has used its official position for the purposes of its election
campaign and in particular
• – (i) (a) The Ministers shall not combine their official visit with
electioneering work and shall not also make use of official
machinery or personnel during the electioneering work.
• (b) Government transport including official aircrafts, vehicles,
machinery and personnel shall not be used for furtherance of the
interest of the party in power;
• iv) Issue of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer
in the newspapers and other media and the misuse of
official mass media during the election period for partisan
coverage of political news and publicity regarding
achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of
the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided.
• (v) Ministers and other authorities shall not sanction
grants/payments out of discretionary funds from the time
elections are announced by the Commission;
• (vi) From the time elections are announced by
Commission, Ministers and other authorities shall
not–
• (a) announce any financial grants in any form or
promises thereof; or
• (b) (except civil servants) lay foundation stones etc. of
projects or schemes of any kind; or
• (c) make any promise of construction of roads,
provision of drinking water facilities etc; or
• (d) make any adhoc appointments in Government,
Public Undertakings etc. which may have the effect of
influencing the voters in favour of the party in power.

• (vii) Ministers of Central or State Government shall not

enter any polling station or place of counting except in
their capacity as a candidate or voter or authorized
agent.
 Statutory Backing?
• The violation of secrecy of voting, causing enmity among communities,
the prohibition of public meetings 48 hours prior to the conclusion of
polls, besides other offences, are covered by the Representation of People
Act, 1951.
• Besides, impersonation at voting, offering inducements to voters, or
accepting gratification to do something they never intended, amount to
bribery under the Indian Penal Code.
• To threaten or to intimidate voters and candidates is an act of interference
with their respective free electoral rights. The EC could invoke its 1968
order which pertains to the allotment of election symbols, either to
suspend or to derecognise political parties for violations of the code.
 Manifestos and MCC...
• The Supreme Court in its judgment dated 5th
July 2013 in S. Subramaniam Balaji Vs Govt.
of Tamil Nadu and Others has directed the
Election Commission to frame guidelines with
regard to the contents of election manifestos
in consultation with all the recognized political
parties.
• (i)The election manifesto shall not contain anything repugnant to the ideals and
principles enshrined in the Constitution and further that it shall be consistent with
the letter and spirit of other provisions of Model Code of Conduct.
• (ii) The Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution enjoin
upon the State to frame various welfare measures for the citizens and therefore
there can be no objection to the promise of such welfare measures in election
manifestos. However, political parties should avoid making those promises which
are likely to vitiate the purity of the election process or exert undue influence on
the voters in exercising their franchise.
• (iii) In the interest of transparency, level playing field and credibility of promises, it
is expected that manifestos also reflect the rationale for the promises and broadly
indicate the ways and means to meet the financial requirements for it. Trust of
voters should be sought only on those promises which are possible to be fulfilled.
• (Elections, An Undocumented Wonder) by SY Quraishi –
• ‘’Just after the election dates were announced, Parrikar, then chief
minister of Goa, chose a party contestant as a minister. As the CEC,
I sent him an advisory against it. He called me angrily to say that the
EC was questioning his sovereign right to elect a minister. I
explained to him that if he chose a minister just when the assembly
elections have been announced, he was not giving a level playing
field to all the candidates. Parrikar withdrew his decision with a
statement that was statesman like. He said, ‘I surrender my
sovereign right to choose a minister to the moral right of the code
of conduct'”
• A former Law Minister announced a scheme after
the declaration of the model code in an
upcoming election. Though the EC advised him
not to do so, he didn’t pay heed. So the EC wrote
to the President and the minister was censured
and fined. A law minister violating ethics doesn’t
go down very well with the voters.
• Filing an FIR, particularly against a senior leader
during the elections, in itself becomes a cause of
huge embarrassment to the party the candidate
represents. It presents the candidate as ethically
wrong to the people. That is the reason most
leaders castigated for breaking the Model Code of
Conduct don’t usually repeat it.
 EVMs
Issues & Concerns; Solutions.
• Basically, a voting system has four required characteristics:
i. Accuracy: The goal of any voting system is to establish the intent
of each individual voter, and translate those intents into a final
tally.
ii. Anonymity: Secret ballots are fundamental to democracy, and
voting systems must be designed to facilitate voter anonymity.
iii. Scalability: Voting systems need to be able to handle very large
elections.
iv. Speed: Voting systems should produce results quickly.
Opinion & Exit Polls
Ban or Regulation?
• We must recognise that systematic collection of public opinion is a
must in modern democracies.
• Since elections are not a private act, citizens wish to, and need to,
know how others are making up their mind. Survey based tracking
of the mood of the electorate performs that crucial role.
• In an unequal country like India, where a tiny but voluble elite is
used to passing off its voice as public interest, scientific sample
surveys of public opinions are one of the few ways in which the
voice of the poor and the disadvantaged gets registered.
• Opinion polls in India have not lived up to the
highest standards of professional, rigorous
and non-partisan polling.
• Banning pre-election opinion polls is a remedy
worse than the disease it seeks to cure.
• There already exists a ban on publishing the
findings of polls beginning 48 hours before
polling and till the last voter has cast her
vote. This is a reasonable restriction, enough
to safeguard against manipulations.
 Disclosures...
• The ownership and track record of the organisation carrying out the
survey;
• details of the sponsor;
• sampling frame, sample size and the exact technique used to draw
the sample;
• the social profile of the achieved sample;
• where, when and how were the interviews conducted;
• the exact wording of the question and sequence of questions asked;
• raw vote shares reported in the survey and how they were
converted into vote estimates and seats forecast.
• Finally, in case of dispute or challenge, the polling
organisation should be required to open its unit
level data (raw data file) for in-camera
examination by a committee of experts.
• There could be a provision for strictures and
sanctions against those who violate these norms.
 Who would formulate these regulations and
implement them?
• Ideally, it should be self-regulation by pollsters and media organisations.
• An organisation like the News Broadcasters Association or the Press
Council of India can take the initiative in this respect. Failing this, the
Election Commission could take up this responsibility.
• What matters is the existence of a regime of mandatory disclosures rather
than an agency in charge of implementing it. Once in place, such a
mechanism would help the public tell the difference between a genuine
and rogue poll and incentivise transparent practices. That would be a
significant step forward in democratic public culture. After all, public
opinion polling is too valuable and consequential to be left to politicians,
or pollsters.
Compulsory Voting
Yes or No?
• Compulsory voting seems like an easy fix to a
widespread problem: how to improve democratic
participation.
• Making voting mandatory is seen as a means of
improving the legitimacy and responsiveness of
government, reducing opportunities for electoral
malpractice, and enhancing citizen engagement
with the democratic process.
• The first thing to note is that the use of
compulsory voting measures is relatively rare,
with only some 14 countries having
compulsory voting requirements that are
actually enforced. The most prominent
examples are Australia, Belgium, Brazil and
Peru.
• A report by the respected International Institute for Democracy and
Electoral Assistance suggested that compulsory voting was likely to
become a “dying phenomenon” in western Europe. Many countries that
have had some form of compulsory voting have abandoned the measure,
or stopped trying to enforce it.
• In Austria, where it was abandoned at a national level in 1982, it was
described by interior ministry officials as unpopular and “almost
impossible to enforce”.
• Spain, Italy and the Netherlands have all had provisions for compulsory
voting at some point, but decided to make voting optional. In recent
years, Chile (2012), Fiji (2014), and Greece (2000) have either removed
compulsory voting requirements or simply stopped enforcing them.
• Thailand introduced compulsory voting in 1997 as part of a
wholesale constitutional reform package that sought to address
political instability and rampant corruption.
• In particular, compulsory voting was seen as a way to combat vote-
buying and reduce the influence of “black money” in elections.
• The measure had little apparent effect — in the 2001 elections,
allegations of vote-buying and electoral irregularities caused its
election commission to hold fresh elections in over 60
constituencies, the democratic legitimacy of the government was
undermined, and further political turmoil led to a military coup in
2006.
 But surely compulsory voting increases
turnout?
• Here the evidence seems clear. In a
comprehensive comparative study, Harvard
professor Pippa Norris showed that average
voter turnout in countries with some form of
compulsory voting requirement was 5.4 per
cent higher than in countries where voting
was optional.
 Costs...
• Imposing penalties on those who do not turn
out to vote provides incentives for people to
avoid appearing on the electoral register.
• Many of those who feel compelled to turn out
to vote actually spoil their ballots or cast
their votes randomly.
 ‘Donkey Vote’
• Compulsory voting may compel people to go
to the polling booth, but it does not ensure
that they cast their vote in a meaningful way.
• Votes for “none of the above” or spoilt ballots
are much more prevalent in systems with
compulsory voting.
• The distinguished political scientist Arend
Lipjhart wrote an article in the late '90s
suggesting, in despcompulsory voting was the
only way to counter voting apathy and
declining legitimacy in democracies in the
developed world.eration, that
• The debate over compulsory voting appeals to
a common democratic language on four
dimensions: choice, legitimacy, equality,
participation.
• The debate over compulsory voting appeals to
a common democratic language on four
dimensions: choice, legitimacy, equality,
participation.
Choice...
Legitimacy...
Equality...
Participation...
• But the most powerful objection to compulsory
voting is that it criminalises non-voting.
• Whatever one's views on the duty and right to
vote, there is something deeply problematic
about punishing non-voting. On merely practical
grounds it is likely to give the state immense
powers of harassment.
 Conclusion...
• Democratic participation is a laudable value. But a
flourishing democracy requires a diversity of
dispositions, including the option of disengagement.
Voting is an important duty. But giving the state
coercive power ostensibly in the name of saving the
people from themselves is undemocratic paternalism.
• Voting must remain an act of choice, not propelled by
coercion or inducement.
Direct Democratic Devices
Right to Recall; Referendum;
Initiative and Plebiscite.
Right to Recall...
• The Law Commission is not in favour of introducing the right to
recall in any form because it can lead to:
• an excess of democracy;
• undermines the independence of the elected candidates;
• ignores minority interests;
• increases instability and chaos;
• increases chances of misuse and abuse;
• is difficult and expensive to implement in practice, especially given
that India follows the first past the post system.
Referendum...
Initiative...
Plebiscite...
Political Parties
National & State.
 Criteria...
• A political party shall be treated as a recognised political party in a State, if and only if either the
conditions specified in Clause (A) are, or the condition specified in Clause (B) is, fulfilled by that
party:
(A) that such party –
• has been engaged in political activity for a continuous period of five years; and
• has, at the last general election in that State to the House of the People, or, as the case may be, to
the Legislative Assembly of the State, returned-
• either ( i ) at least one member to the House of the People for every twenty-five members of that
House or any fraction of that number from that State;
• or (ii) at least one member to the Legislative Assembly of that State for every thirty members of
that Assembly or any fraction of that number;
(B) that the total number of valid votes polled by all the contesting candidates set up by such party
at the last general election in the State to the House of the People, or as the case may be, to the
Legislative Assembly of the State, is not less than six per cent of the total number of valid votes
polled by all the contesting candidates at such general election in the State.
 Benefits...
• If a political party is treated as a recognised
political party in four or more States, it shall
be known as a `National Party’ throughout
the whole of India.
 List of National PPs...
• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP);
• Indian National Congress (INC);
• Communist Party of India (Marxist) {CPI-M};
• Communist Party of India (CPI);
• Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP);
• Nationalist Congress Party (NCP);
• All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).
Electoral Reforms
• Section 77 of the RPA, regulating the election expenses
incurred or authorized by candidates or their election
agents, currently extends from the date of nomination
to the date of declaration of results.
• This period should be extended by amending section
77(1) to apply from the date of notification of the
elections to the date of declaration of results.
• Section 182(1) of the Companies Act, 2013
should be amended to require the passing of
the resolution authorising the contribution
from the company’s funds to a political party
at the company’s Annual General Meeting
(AGM) instead of its Board of Directors.
• A new section 78A should be inserted
requiring the district election officer to make
publicly available, on his website or on file for
public inspection on payment of prescribed
fee, the expenditure reports submitted by
every contesting candidate under section 78.
a) mandatorily disclose all contributions in excess of Rs.
20,000;
b) include aggregate contributions from a single donor
amounting to Rs. 20,000 within its scope;
c) disclose the names, addresses and PAN card numbers (if
applicable) of these donors along with the amount of each
donation above Rs. 20,000;
d) disclose such particulars even for contributions less than
Rs. 20,000 if such contributions exceed Rs. 20 crore or 20
% of the party’s total contributions, whichever is less.
• The disqualification of a candidate for a failure to
lodge an account of election expenses and
contributions reports under section 77 and
proposed 77A should be extended from the
current three period up to a five year period, so
that a defaulting candidate may be ineligible to
contest at least the next elections.
• The ban on opinion polls in the electronic
media does not extend to the print media
and section 126(1)(b) should be amended to
prevent the publication, publicity, or
dissemination of any election matter by print
or electronic media.
Totaliser for Counting of Votes
• Amendment of section 33(7) of the RPA, which
permits a candidate to contest any election
(parliamentary, assembly, biennial council, or bye-
elections) from up to two constituencies.
• In view of the expenditure of time and effort; election
fatigue; and the harassment caused to the voters,
section 33(7) should be amended to permit candidates
to stand from only one constituency.
• The Law Commission recommends that independent
candidates be disbarred from contesting elections because
the current regime allows a proliferation of independents,
who are mostly dummy/non-serious candidates or those
who stand (with the same name) only to increase the
voters’ confusion.
• Thus, sections 4 and 5 of the RPA should be amended to
provide for only political parties registered with the ECI
under section 11(4) to contest Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha
elections.
Simultaneous elections
State funding of elections...
THE REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE ACT,
1950
Provisions
• ALLOCATION OF SEATS AND DELIMITATION
OF CONSTITUENCIES.
• OFFICERS:
• Cheif Electoral Officer
• District Election Officer
• ELECTORAL ROLLS
• An Act to provide the
• allocation of seats in,
• and the delimitation of constituencies for the
purpose of election to, the House of the People
and the Legislatures of States,
• the qualifications of voters at such elections,
• the preparation of electoral rolls, and matters
connected therewith.
The Representation of the People
Act, 1951.
Provisions and Issues.