The notification of the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing the schedule of the Lok Sabha elections is expected this week. In the past, the schedule was criticized for appearing to accommodate the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s travels around the country. Whether the schedule will be more rational and compressed this time will be known shortly.
There are many shortcomings in the conduct of elections. The first is the number of phases of polling. There should be no more than three phases of election in the country and polling in a state should be held on one day; in bigger states, it can be on two days. In 2019, the polling dates were stretched over 39 days from April 11 to May 19.
Polling was held in seven phases in Bihar (40 seats), Uttar Pradesh (80) and West Bengal (42). Tamil Nadu & Puducherry (39+1) have about the same number of constituencies as Bihar and West Bengal, yet polling took place on one day. Why should polling be done on four dates in Madhya Pradesh which has only 29 constituencies? U. P. has twice the number of Tamil Nadu; why should polling be done on seven dates?
No Plausible Reason
The reason given is that there are ‘security’ considerations and it requires time to move the central armed police forces from one region to another of a state. It doesn’t wash. Once elections are announced, the police and CAPF are deployed in all constituencies of a state.
On polling day, while polling is taking place in the Phase 1 constituencies, the campaign will go on in other constituencies, and police and CAPFs will be deployed to maintain law and order.
It is not that before and after the polling day, a constituency is not policed. Besides, according to the BJP, there is a double-engine government in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and law and order has improved tremendously. So, why should there be any apprehension of violence in these states?
The suspicion is that multiple phases are intended to facilitate the movement of leaders and the party workers from one part of the state to another. However, there are several negative consequences. Firstly, if the polling dates are different, the “silent periods” will also be different.
On the so-called silent days and polling day in constituency A, the leader can campaign in neighbouring constituency B and the speech will travel through TV, radio, newspapers and social media to constituency A.
Secondly, in multi-phase polling, the post-poll assessments of the likely results in Phase I will certainly influence the voting behaviour in Phase II and subsequent phases.
Discriminatory Rules
The other matter that should concern the ECI is the discriminatory rules applied by the Chief Electoral Officers who represent the ECI in the states.
For instance, in Tamil Nadu in 2019, the CEO banned display of posters, flexboards, banners and flags in town panchayats and municipalities. He did not allow roadshows except on one day per candidate. He restricted the points at which the campaigners may address the voters. He did not allow more than 3 vehicles to accompany the candidate.
When a public meeting or rally was scheduled, the CEO allowed flags to be displayed in the local area on the previous day, the day of the meeting/rally and the day after. All these restrictions were enforced strictly, even when the people of Tamil Nadu wondered how towns and cities in other states were inundated with posters, banners, flags, etc. and multiple road shows with numerous vehicles were allowed. The ECI should end the discrimination and enforce uniform rules and norms throughout the country.
The effect of these undue restrictions on open campaigns has been to rob the essence of elections in a democracy — an election is a festival of democracy. For the better part of the campaign period in 2019, Tamil Nadu wore a funereal look. The restrictions drove the elections underground. The campaign was pushed into the dark with party workers moving silently from house to house seeking votes.
Money Goes Underground
I have reserved the most important matter to the end: money and the role it plays in elections. Thanks to the infamous electoral bonds, the playing field is not level. The BJP has amassed a huge war chest that will be deployed in the elections. A rally addressed by the Hon’ble Prime Minister reportedly costs several crores of rupees. Candidates are present on the stage, but a proportion of the expenditure is not attributed to each candidate — I think, quite rightly. But in the last Lok Sabha election in Tamil Nadu, if candidates were present on the stage with a party leader (a star campaigner), a proportion of the expenditure was attributed to each of the candidates and added to his/her election expenditure. The ECI must rectify this discrimination.
Election campaigns going underground are the cause of the abomination of cash for votes. Fortunately, many voters vote according to their desire, but the distribution of cash has made elections prohibitively expensive. If more money is allowed to be spent openly by candidates or their political parties and the election campaign brought over ground, the practice of cash for votes may be eliminated in course of time. ECI must try different measures to restore the combative, noisy, cheerful, festive atmosphere of elections. Democracy deserves a festival.
ECI must try different measures to restore the noisy, festive atmosphere of elections
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10.03.2024
The notification of the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing the schedule of the Lok Sabha elections is expected this week. In the past, the schedule was criticized for appearing to accommodate the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s travels around the country. Whether the schedule will be more rational and compressed this time will be known shortly.
There are many shortcomings in the conduct of elections. The first is the number of phases of polling. There should be no more than three phases of election in the country and polling in a state should be held on one day; in bigger states, it can be on two days. In 2019, the polling dates were stretched over 39 days from April 11 to May 19.
Polling was held in seven phases in Bihar (40 seats), Uttar Pradesh (80) and West Bengal (42). Tamil Nadu & Puducherry (39 1) have about the same number of constituencies as Bihar and West Bengal, yet polling took place on one day. Why should polling be done on four dates in Madhya Pradesh which has only 29 constituencies? U. P. has twice the number of Tamil Nadu; why should polling be done on seven dates?
No Plausible Reason
The reason given is that there are ‘security’ considerations and it requires time to move the central armed police forces from one region to another of a state. It doesn’t wash. Once elections are........
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