How fair is the Indian Election process ?
August 1, 2014
To its credit, the Election Commission (EC) has, indeed, played a significant role in keeping Indian democracy alive. Yet, can it claim of consistency vis-à-vis ensuring a free and fair democratic process? It certainly demands a close scrutiny.
Seshan’s Path-breaking Contribution in cleansing the Elections Process
All will agree that whenever we talk of fair and free elections, we think of a gentleman named Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan. As the 10th chief election commissioner (CEC) of India from 1990-1996, he was literally a one-man crusading army, loved by the masses but feared by the political establishments.
Ironically, the efforts that he made to cleanse the election process in the country, earned him a rather degrading sobriquet, ‘maverick’. Obviously the political class never liked his style of functioning and even made attempts to derail his efforts. In October 1993, Parliament amended the Constitution and added two additional commissioners to share power with the chief election commissioner – a move that was contested by Seshan. He prevailed briefly but the final order of SC finally ruled that the position of the chief commissioner vis-à-vis the two other commissioners was “no more than that of the first among equals” and that they were all equally placed. Typical of Seshan, he said the SC order would only render the EC “impotent and a eunuch.”
Unarguably Seshan’s tenure as CEC was the golden period for electoral reforms. Some of his major achievements were empowering the voters with a strict code of conduct that took on unfair electoral practices characterised by the use of money and muscle power. Besides issuance of Voter I-cards for all eligible voters, he abolished the use of official machinery during electioneering as well as the practice of using places of worship for campaigns and influencing voters along caste or communal lines.
The post-Seshan era
The most important question to be asked is whether elections, indeed, became free and fair in post-Seshan era? He brought about the reforms and did all the good work but could he really subdue a hostile political class that suffered because of his obduracy?
EC still faces many inadequacies in terms of conducting free and fair polls in the country.
Before we analyse these inadequacies, let me point out that even the appointments of certain election commissioners have generated controversies and the particular example of Navin Chawla is a case in point. His appointment as Election Commissioner was challenged in the Supreme Court and over 200 Members of Parliament from the opposition even submitted a memorandum to the President of India alleging his close links with ruling party. While the apex court ruled that it was up to the CEC to recommend the removal, the President rejected the then Chief Election Commissioner’s recommendation of removing Chawla on the grounds of political bias. Chawla became the CEC and held the office between 21 April 2009 and 29 July 2010.
Given the vast powers that the Election Commissioner commands, his appointment often smacks of favouritism by the ruling dispensation. The Opposition parties have often termed the current system of appointment to be open to “manipulation and partisanship”. In view of this, there have been suggestions such as the appointment of CEC be made by a bipartisan collegium consisting of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice, the Law Minister and the Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Reportedly even former CECs like BB Tandon, N Gopalaswamy and SY Quraishi are of the same view.
Yet, it may be said that most of Seshan’s successors did show impeccable integrity and judiciousness in wielding their authority.
Still, we don’t have fair and free elections in the country and its time that we analyse the reasons.
Are Electronic Voting Machines above Suspicion?
Consider these facts:
- In this year’s general election, people of Kendrapada in Odisha hit the streets and staged demonstrations after the seizure of 28 EVMs from outside the residence of a government official. The BJP accused the authorities of attempting to tamper with the machines.
- 50 dummy EVMs, displaying ruling Biju Janata Dal’s election symbol ‘Conch’, were seized from a jeep in Kantamal Assembly constituency in Odisha, in April this year.
- The EC had to order a repoll at four booths spread across three Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra because of “non-clearance” of votes cast during mock polls which resulted in the EVMs showing more votes cast than the actual number.
Indeed, the above instances of irregularities could be brought to light and promptly addressed. Yet they hint at a larger question: Are EVM’s above suspicion of poll rigging?
Actually the problems with EVM security are well known particularly after the large-scale irregularities in Florida during the 2000 US elections. Countries such as the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany have scrapped them and gone back to paper ballots.
In fact during 2009 general election itself, concerns were raised over the reliability of EVMs when it was discovered that the files on the EC website displayed election results days before votes were actually cast and counted. A team of IT specialists, thereafter, used an actual Indian EVM to demonstrate two ways they could be hacked and subsequently the Supreme Court of India passed a ruling that the Indian EVMs would at least have to prove a paper trail. However, it is a huge task and only eight of 543 constituencies in this election had a Vote Verifier Paper Audit Trail system.
Fake Votes
Now consider these facts:
- A television sting operation in Gurgaon this year exposed how the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and agents were hand in gloves to make multiple voter IDs on a single voter’s photograph so as to facilitate fake and bogus voting.
- The same sting operation showed an agent saying that the election ink removers were available in open market.
- 3 poll officials were arrested after the sting operation.
The whole incident exposes the prevalent malpractices and it would be naïve to assume that these were isolated cases of corrupt election practices.
Corrupt Practices to Lure Voters
Reports suggest that thousands of crore of unaccounted money was used to lure the voters and that the EC can do little because the money is distributed clandestinely. The purchase of vote is at the individual level and there are hundreds employed by political parties in the name of bandobast for this nefarious activity in every constituency. Unless the political parties get into self regulation, can this poll malpractice be ever checked?
Missing Voters’ Names in the List
Over six million voters failed to cast their vote in Maharashtra this time as their names were missing from the voters’ list. While the EC could only tender an apology for the lapse, doesn’t the way political parties’ hammered each other on the issue, suggest a larger political conspiracy?
The New Trend of ‘Silent Booth Capturing’
Attempts were made this election to create fear in the minds of the enforcing agencies. A case in point is the attack on Marshaghai BDO Sushanta Pati in Odisha this elections. The Odisha Administrative Service Officers’ Association did condemn the assault but also threatened that it would not take part in any poll related activities if the government failed to take action against the assaulters.
Moreover, incidents of an innovative ‘Silent booth capturing’ came to light in West Bengal and UP when the BJP on May 5, raised this issue with the EC. It claimed that agents of Opposition parties were threatened and turned away from booths since the Central forces were being used for ‘non-election purposes’, and the local police and home guards were managing polling booths.
The Bane of Paid Media
Consider these facts:
- The unaccounted advertisements dressing up as news were estimated to be worth 50 billion rupees per month in the 2009 general election.
- A sting operation earlier this year by a private news channel exposed a leading opinion poll agency and reveals how opinion polls are misleading the people and running the Ballot-game.
- In April this year, the EC warned the media houses against telecasting or publishing exit polls “by showing them as opinion polls”.
- In all 694 cases of paid news (which are published as news but are advertisement in nature for which the media organisations charge money) were detected in this election.
No doubt the Media has over the years played a crucial role in safeguarding the democratic rights of the people by educating and informing voters about their electoral duties. But its power to influence public opinion has, of late, also encouraged its blatant misuse by parties and candidates, who connived with obliging editors and media house owners to encourage paid news. This came to light during elections in 2004 and 2009. Today, it is a major challenge in the way of fair elections because on one hand it provides wealthier candidates with an edge over other candidates, on the other it defeats the very principle of fair elections by denying equal opportunity to other candidates. The EC does have some powers to deal with the problem of paid news. However, the measures and guidelines are not enough as the media houses or publications are beyond the EC’s purview and it can only forward these cases to the Press Council of India and the News Broadcasting Standards Association.
Modi Exploited Archaic Election Laws
Yet, the most crucial aspect coming in the way of holding fair and free elections are the outdated election laws in the age of social media and internet. None other than the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi exploited these loopholes in the general elections.
Just have a look:
- Taking advantage of archaic poll laws, Modi released the party’s poll manifesto on the first day of the election (April 7). Similarly, filed his nominations from Vadodara as well as Varanasi on a polling day (April 9 and April 24), making them big media events that in no uncertain way influenced the voters.
- After casting his vote in Vadodara, Modi posed for a ‘selfie’ showing his ‘voting finger’ while holding the BJP election symbol in hand. He also made a public speech. It created uproar. The opposition accused him of influencing voters. First Information Reports were filed against him and the EC too booked him for violating the Representation of the People Act, 1951. However, the next day, the police affirmed that Modi had not flouted any rules since he made the speech outside the restricted 100 meter radius!
- Bang in the middle of the final day of polls on May 12, Modi released a video seeking votes, specifically mentioning Varanasi, the seat from which he sought election. Under the Representation of Peoples’ Act, canvassing for votes was supposed to have ended 48 hours before the end of polling. Yet, Modi escaped the EC’s action because the law prohibits campaign activity only in poll-bound areas and the video message was uploaded from Ahmedabad.
The poll law was framed in 1951. It needs to be updated in the age of internet. EC has been asking the government for electoral reforms. Who else, than Prime Minister Modi, can realise the need better?
Till then, free and fair elections remain a pipe dream as ever….with no Seshan around
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