The World’s largest democracy celebrates its largest festival every 5 years, the General Elections. Although that is one of the major elections in India, it is the election that is covered and followed the most. Ever since India’s independence, we have chosen representatives through elections, the first one being in 1951. The first elections were a big affair in India with ballot boxes being procured from Godrej & Boyce in Mumbai. The literacy in India was low hence symbols were introduced for parties. Indelible Ink developed by M.L. Goel was used to prevent double-voting. All this happened, with one body behind all the action which was responsible for the elections.
The Election Commission of India is the autonomous constitutional body that conducts elections in India. Unlike the US, where states decide the procedure, the elections happen in a similar and unified manner across India. The first General Elections were simultaneous, i.e. all elections for states and centers happened together. Later, this was dropped after the third General Election due to disruption in tenures of states. It has been responsible for promoting the idea to vote through campaigns and conducting elections in an efficient manner.
There are 2 types of elections in India. These are direct and indirect. The direct one includes the election of those who are elected directly by citizens under the Universal Adult Suffrage. These include members of the Lok Sabha, Members of Legislative Assemblies, Municipal Corporators, Members of Gram Panchayat, and other bodies. The 2nd form is relatively used less and is used only when there is a bicameral legislature. Indirect elections include the election of members by the elected representatives of the people. This type of election includes the election of President, Vice President, members of Rajya Sabha, Members of the Legislative Council, and other bodies. Most direct elections follow the majority format wherein the one getting the highest votes wins while the indirect elections follow the ‘first past the post system’ wherein those clearing the minimum number of votes to qualify. Election of President and Vice President also follow preferential voting. Bypolls are also held in case a seat has been vacated before expiry of term.
Now that we know what kind of elections happen in India, let us have a look at the problems, the way they have been sorted, and the reforms that are needed. The most evident problem that is often seen is that of Model Code Violations. Polls in India have a model code of conduct for parties to follow to ensure fairness in elections. This includes but is not limited to not influencing voters by material means, nonusage of government resources for campaigning, the usage of words for campaigning, and the end of campaigning two days before the polls at 6 PM. The Election Commission takes notes of all offences and varying degrees of punishments are awarded accordingly.
The second major problem that the ECI faced during the 1980s was that of Booth Capturing and the missing ballot boxes especially in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and other states. Under one of the most efficient Election Commissioners, T.N. Seshan, the ECI worked for moving to safer means, leading to Electronic Voting Machines which were developed in India itself. EVMs were introduced by amending the Representation of People’s Act in 1988. There have been various petitions against the usage of EVMs but all have been turned in favor of the ECI and EVMs. EVMs were used on a full scale in the General Elections of 2004. Later, the VVPATs, a subsidiary device to the EVMs were introduced in 2013 and finally made compulsory for every EVM in 2019. This device, the voter-verified paper audit trail, prints a slip with the details of the candidate, hence making it verified by the voter.
Reforms are continuous and slow changes that make a process better. The Indian Election system is different from others and hence needs unique reforms in its own process. Apart from the introduction of EVMs, the major reforms in the election process were undertaken post the year 2000. Before 2000, the age of voting had been lowered, reducing of campaigning period and reforms regarding death of candidates. Post 2000, the election expenditure was limited, exit polls were restricted before the last phase, declaration of criminal records and increase in voters through ballots.
In 2020, reforms that have been proposed or are pending are related to majorly transparency and free conduct of elections. Simultaneous elections have been proposed to curb spending by parties. The electoral bonds which were started in 2017 were proposed as a means of cleansing funding, but it has led to more secrecy. News and speeches of leaders are what defines the thoughts of the people, hence these need reforming too. The Election Commission has been partly successful, and if it plans the way out well, democracy shall prevail in India in it’s true spirit.