Election Commission of India- Composition, Powers, Functions

Election Commission of India is a permanent Constitutional Body. The Election

Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950.
Originally, the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. From 1st October,
1993, the Election Commission is a three- member body, consisting of Chief Election
Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. The President appoints Chief Election
Commissioner and Election Commissioners. They have tenure of six years, or up to the
age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. They enjoy the same status and service conditions
as are enjoyed by the Judges of the Supreme Court of India.

The Chief Election Commissioner cannot be removed from office, except on the
grounds and in the manner on which the Supreme Court judges can be removed.
However, since the other Election Commissioners and the Regional Election
Commissioners work under the Chief Commissioner, they may be removed by the
President on his recommendations.

POWERS AND FUNCTIONS

Delimitation of Constituencies- To facilitate the process of elections, a country has to

be divided into several constituencies. The task of delimiting constituencies is generally
performed by the Delimitation Commission consisting of five serving or retired judges of
the Supreme Court and the Chief Election Commissioner who is its ex-officio member.
All secretarial assistance (at all levels, national, state, district) is provided to the
Delimitation Commission by the Election Commission. The Delimitation Commission is
constituted by the Government from time to time

Preparation of Electoral Rolls- Each constituency has a comprehensive list of voters.

It is known as the Electoral Roll, or the Voters’ List. The Commission prepares the
Electoral Roll for Parliament as well as Legislative Assembly elections. The Electoral
Roll of every constituency contains the names of all the persons who have right to vote
in that constituency. The electoral roll is also revised from time to time generally before
every general election, by-election and mid-term election in the constituency. The
revision is carried out from house to house by the enumerators appointed by Election
Commission and all eligible voters are registered.

Recognition of Political Parties- One of the important functions of the Election

Commission is to recognise political parties as all India (National) or State (Regional)
Political Parties. If in a general election, a particular party gets four percent of the total
valid votes polled in any four states it is recognised as an all India (National) Party. If a
party gets four percent of the total valid votes in a state, it is recognized as a State or
regional party.
Allotment of Symbol- Political Parties have symbols which are allotted by the Election
Commission. For example, Hand is the symbol of the Indian National Congress, Lotus is
the symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Elephant is the symbol of Bahujan
Samaj Party. These symbols are significant for the following reasons: 1. They are a help
for the illiterate voters who cannot read the names of the candidates. 2. They help in
differentiating between two candidates having the same name.

SOCIAL MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON ELECTIONS IN INDIA

Social media has changed the political game, allowing incumbents and newcomers
alike to speak directly to voters on everything from their own vs opponents parties’
policies. Almost all Indian political leaders have taken up social media, predominantly
Facebook and Twitter, to express themselves without the filtering by conventional
media.

Current age new political aspirants get extended support from using social media
platforms, which cost less than one percent of the main media cost and are easily
tapped by anyone with just a smartphone having an internet connection. Based on the
elections happening around the world, it’s a known fact that social media can help level
the playing field in politics, where money and access to formal communication channels
pose huge barriers to newcomers in politics.

Political campaigns are not just confined to posters and banners. Social Media
campaigns are full of info-commercials, advertisements, blog posts, and lakhs of tweets,
Instagram posts and Facebook posts. Politicians are now able to convey their message
through endless info-commercials and gauge their communication by viewing direct
responses to their actions on social platforms.

Political Fake News stories or hoaxes are created on social media to deliberately
misinform or disinformation and deceive the voter. Usually, these stories are created to
influence the voter’s views, push a political agenda, or cause confusion or manipulate
perceptions. What would happen to our communities, our business or our government if
we can’t trust what we read, hear or see?

As political campaigns are expensive and the need to reach out to constituencies is
becoming more imperative, social media will undoubtedly play a more important role in
influencing electoral results.

Pros of Social Media in Election Campaigning:-

• Easy to get details on events, schedules an election agenda
• Representatives can directly interact live with voters
• Minute by minute information is available on social media
Cons of Social Media in Election Campaigning:-
• Connecting local masses and reaching out to individual voters who are not on the
Internet is difficult
• Politicians use this to make more noise and are sometimes a way to encouraging
polarisation
• Is a threat multiplier and can increase overall suspicion, outrage, hatred, and violence
because of Misinformation and Disinformation
• Political minorities are using social media to create a political gridlock

Media Certification & Monitoring Committee in India:-

This committee clears political advertisements before being telecast on television
channels and cable networks by any registered political party or by any group or
organisation/association or by any contesting candidate during elections. MCMC’s three
major functions are (1) Pre-certification of Political advertisements on electronic media
including social media. (2) Monitoring and action on Paid News cases. (3) Monitoring
media violation cases during the election process.

The Election Commission has developed a set of ‘Voluntary Code of Ethics’ for the
General Elections prior to the Lok Sabha 2019 elections. Voluntary Code of Ethics’ has
been developed to ensure free, fair and ethical use of social media platforms and to
maintain the integrity of the electoral process.

At a high-level, Media Certification and Monitoring Committee approach looks good, but
in practicality, there are plenty of open statements in the approach, as we seeing every
day political parties speak defamatory about opponents and sometimes issuing
provocation statement with intent to incite violence.

ECI scrutiny on Social Media

Authentic social media account (if any) should be informed by the candidate in para 3 of
Form-26 at the time of filing of nomination. Since social media websites are also
electronic media by definition, therefore Commission’s instructions with regards to pre-
certification of political advertisements shall also apply mutatis mutandis to websites
including social media websites.

Provisions of Model Code of Conduct and related instructions of the Commission issued
from time to time shall also apply to the content being posted on the internet, including
social media websites, by candidates and political parties. Candidates and political
parties have to include all expenditure on campaigning, including expenditure on
advertisement on social media while submitting final statement of expenditure. This
shall also include payment made to internet companies and websites for carrying
advertisements and campaign related operational expenditure on creative development
of content, operational expenditure on salaries and wages paid to the team of workers
employed by such candidates and political parties to maintain their social media
accounts etc.

Any political content in the form of messages/ comments/ photos/ videos

posted/uploaded on the ‘blogs/ self accounts’ on website will not be treated as political
advertisement and therefore would not require pre-certification, even if the same is
posted/uploaded by the political parties/ candidates. Chief Electoral Officers and the
District Electoral Officers are expected to activate their official accounts on various
social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. for establishing a more interactive
system. A Social Media Cell will also be set up by the CEOs to professionally handle the
Social Media and disseminate all the necessary information regarding voters’
awareness, pre-certification, MCC, etc. Complaints received on this platform would be
promptly responded to.

At the ECI level, a Social Media Cell is also setup to disseminate all election related
information to various stakeholders and to monitor the performance of the State/UTs
and District and to guide and train them to maximise the use of Social Media, making it
more interactive and interesting for the general public. The Social Media Cell also
closely monitors the web for election related news and developments and regularly
reports to the Commission.

The Commission has issued instructions to appoint Media Certification & Monitoring
Committees (MCMC) at District and State level for. These MCMCs have three major
functions : 1. Pre-certification of Political advertisements on Electronic Media including
Social Media. 2. Monitoring and action on Paid News cases. 3. Monitoring the media
violations cases during election process