Election Commission of India
Election commission of India is an independent constitutional body which is responsible for organizing, conducting and monitoring election processes. It is an autonomous authority and works as per the article 324 and representing people act.
Election commission objective is “ to conduct elections for state assemblies, state councils, Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and offices representatives of President and Vice-President of the country.”
Election commission of India was formed on 25th January 1950 and since then a fair and free elections are conducted according to the laws and principles of constitution at a regular interval of time. Election commission operates with freedom, higher judiciary and autonomy. Constitution of India has given power to the election commission to take appropriate measures independently when the passed laws are insufficient to deal with the situation during elections.
The election commission of India is led by chief election commissioner who is appointed by the President of India. The tenure of commissioners is 6 years and on the other hand he can be in position till he is 65 years, whichever is earlier. Salary, incentives and parks of commissioner is same as chief justice of India. He can be removed from his position only by impeachment by parliament houses. The first Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) was Shri Sukumar Sen and served from 21st March 1950 to 19th December 1958.
Shri Sunil Arora is the present CEC and is elected as the 23rd Chief Election Commissioner of India on 1st of December, 2018.
The fundamental pursuit of Indian democracy and basic function of election commission of India is conducting a fair and free elections at regular intervals. Election commission issues an advisory model code of conduct to be followed by all independent candidates and parties. This code of conduct contains electoral morality rules and have persuasive effect and doesn’t have any specific statutory basis.
The commission is given the power to choose the insignia for independent candidates and their parties. No same insignia is given to two independent candidates or parties regardless of differing location. It sets limits on poll expenses. The commission is responsible for maintenance of the electoral rolls and establishing the schedules of elections.
Regarding judicial power of election commission, the decision made by them can only be challenged in the Supreme Court of India and High Courts under suitable petitions. The judiciary has no power to stop or give a stay from conducting polls once the process of election is started. Once the elections are done and the results are declared, election commission have no right to recount or review the results on their own. But can be reviewed by filing a petition before the high court for state legislatures and parliament. Elections results for the offices of the President and Vice President can be reviewed only by filing a petition before the Supreme Court of India.
When it comes to the relationship between the commission and the political parties, parties should get registered with the election commission of India under the law. By doing so political parties are granted recognition at national and state levels by the commission. On the matter of conducting elections, election commission will have a periodic consultation with political parties in order to take the compliance regarding model code of conduct and the introduction of new measures taken by the election commission on the current issues.
Election commission of India has considered many changes and suggestions in order to control the growing influence of money during elections. The commission has set a limit on the amount of money an individual candidate can spend for campaigning. To track this the commission has appointed the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. He is considered as an election spectator and he keeps a track on the expenditures made by the candidates during campaigns.
During the submission of nomination by the candidate, the commission collects an affidavit of the assets owned by the candidate. The duration of the campaign has also been reduced from three weeks to two weeks to reduce the election expenditure. Furthermore, the candidates should produce their expenditure list to the commission within 30 days of the election results.
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The commission has approached Supreme Court to put a lifetime ban on criminal or convicted politicians from contesting in elections.
In 1982 Election Commission of India introduced EVM’s (Electronic Voting Machines) for the first time ever in Kerala assembly elections with a purpose of improving efficiency and to reduce malpractices. Although it was a live testing scenario, after legal inquiries, they decided to implement this system in all the upcoming elections there after.
The commission developed its website in order to provide accurate information regarding its administration, management and results. The commission in 1993, came up with Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC), to reduce the duplication of votes.
Computerization of electoral rolls was decided and VVPAT (Voter verified paper audit trail) was introduced in eight Lok Sabha constituencies elections in 2014, which was considered a great achievement for election commission.
The concept of NOTA (none of the above) was added as an option on voting machines in order to encourage citizens to participate in elections.
In order to help physically challenged people to participate in elections, the Election Commission of India came up with a plan to provide free transport to the polling booth. People working in the Union Armed forces, those working for the government of India and are posted abroad, state police and their wives are provided with the option of Postal Voting.
Elections in India is considered to be a high risk as there are instances where many have been killed or injured during this time. Hence the commission takes the support of the Central Armed Force to conduct a peaceful elections. The commission has banned conducting and publishing of exit polls from the time polling starts till the half an hour after polling completes in all the regions. In the interest of level playing and transparency during elections, regulation of social media has become important. Political parties and independent candidates are persisting the commission to take control of the use of online channels as how other media has been taken.