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Abstract

India is one of the greatest democracies in the world, providing its citizens the right to choose their representatives under Article 326 of the Indian Constitution via Elections. Elections are a means of establishing legitimacy for political power, which is seen to constitute the art and practice of politics. Only with the confidence that elections are accessible, fair, and unmanipulated can democracy truly function. This Article deals with the various procedural discrepancies that occur during the conduction of an election including a Hike in the Cost of Elections leading to Corruption and Criminal Activities, Crimilization of election procedures, Unfairness via First-past-post system, Erroneous and Defective electoral rolls, voter identity resulting in rigging and Errors during Counting of votes. Further, the article briefly highlights the effect of these discrepancies on the rights of the people of this country, the remedy, and the way forward.

Research Question

To identify the various discrepancies that take place during the conduction of elections in India and a brief analysis of how it’s affecting the democracy of the state

Introduction-

As rightly said by Sir Abraham Lincoln, Democracy is nothing but “Government of the people, for the people, by the people.” This means that to maintain the democracy of a civilized state it is essential that the constitution of that state vests its power in its citizens to choose their representatives, Under Article 326 of the Indian Constitution that power is vested to all its adult citizens above the age of 18, to select their spokespersons for all the elections for Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, the entire procedure takes its origin from the concept of Universal Adult Franchise.

Imagine what happens “when the protector becomes the eater”, the eater of their fundamental rights and thus destroys the sacred nature of democracy.

To maintain this sacred nature, the elections must be conducted in a just and fair manner, right from the proclamation of schedule by the Election Commission of India, which is the first procedure for elections to commence till the counting of votes and declaration of results.

Procedural Discrepancies during Conduction of Elections in India:

1. Hike in Cost of Elections Leading to Corruption and Criminal Activities-

Elections are very costly affairs and usually, it’s said that to contest elections one may need to spend a lot, the Election commission of India decides the permitted cost of expenditure for elections, and the power is given to them under Article 324[1] of the Constitution, Politicians often complaint about the limits of expenditure allowance being too low for them[2], these restrictions are there to ensure that no corrupt activities are being conducted in the name of publicity of one’s candidature in elections, however when the limits get increased, like in 2022[3], it leads to dishonorable, illegitimate, also mafia led election funding, corruption and generation of black money through various means.[4]

It’s often argued by various Think Tanks that despite whatever the limit is legally been set for the contestants, they are often unrealistic and the amount of cost of expenditure is always higher, [5]which they don’t show in their statement of expenditure prescribed under Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.[6]

2. Criminalization of Election Procedure –

Many of the candidates come from criminal backgrounds, that a lot of times influence the electoral procedure.

There have been many instances when they used muscle power and money leading to Booth’s Capturing, forcing people to vote for them against their will by using Physical forces and weapons to terrorize them.[7]

One of the prime examples is Mohammad Shahabuddin who was a former MLA from the Siwan constituency in Bihar, He was made liable for killing a JNU Student Chandrashekhar Prasad, and several communist party members and thus Restricted Participation during the 1997 Elections.[8]

3. First-Past-Post-System-

There are certain difficulties with the current system, which allows voters to choose representatives from their local Panchayats to the national Lok Sabha. All elected officials, including those in the Union Parliament, are expected by the same group of constituents to solve local issues. On the other hand, different role expectations lead to disputes.

In addition, the first-past-the-post voting method and the absence of a direct voter role in candidate selection are concerning. There is a question about the legitimacy of many representatives who are elected with a small percentage of the vote. The fact that many independent candidates and other parties are contributing to the disparity means that more votes are cast against the winners than in their favor. In general, these problems might be caused by the way the electoral system is designed.[9]

4. Erroneous and Defective electoral rolls, voter identity resulting in rigging-

It is the fundamental document that is required to hold an election. In terms of the voters who are eligible to cast ballots, the electoral rolls specify the parameters of an election. The correctness of the rolls has a major bearing on the integrity of an election. Thus, it is imperative to provide precise and credible electoral rolls. Though there is a vigil mechanism for the preparation of this electoral roll it’s a very hectic task that involves a large number of officials and staff, any falsifications from any end could result in the making of a flawed electoral roll, additionally, the issue of impersonation together results in rigging, which gives unfair results.[10]

5. Errors during the counting of votes-

In India, the Counting of votes and declaration of results is the final stage of the election procedure. It gets done under the supervision of the Returning officer.

The entire process of counting is typically three stages of randomization procedure.

It gets started via Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballots and Postal Ballots and the EVM counting begins afterwards, 30 minutes post the start of counting done by PB.[11]

Counting votes could be affected by various types of mischiefs like human error or engineered errors, including DoS attacks, the use of other viruses, and malware affecting the entire integrity of calculation.[12] Recently in September 2023, the Election Commission of India opposed the plea of cross-verification of EVMs with VVPATs in every polling booth, in the supreme court, stating that for the count of paper slips, we would need more skilled people and more time, and it would be a step which would take us back in the paper ballot system era leading to more corruption in counting of votes.[13]

Effect on democracy, remedies, and way forward:

Janta/The Populas is just like a small person, entering the electoral booths in the hope of justice, marking a little cut on a tiny piece of sheet by holding a pencil and the total of all those little crosses decides the future of the country and the extent to which his basic rights would be taken care of, this is a very beautiful representation of democratic elections given by Winston Churchill.[14]

The Leaders show them a false picture of a nation so righteous where all their fundamental rights would be protected, through their party manifesto before elections, but right after the elections take place, which encompasses several “Dhandhalis”(Fraudulent practices) their dreams get shattered, not seeing any developments around and facing the same issues that they have been facing since ages, and the saddest part is that there is no law as such which could work like checks and balances for all those false promises. [15]

The State and its leaders become encroachers on people’s freedom of thought, right to elect, movement, right to association, right to religion, right to communication, and their right to equality and speech through various discrepancies during the entire procedure of the election.[16]

Though various provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 act as a remedy for dealing with various electoral offenses, the court proceedings are often very lengthy for handling the election petitions, and it would take the cooperation of all three organs of the democracy, the executive, the legislative and the judiciary to tackle with this issue.[17]

Recall elections which are already prevalent in the US, could be a possible solution that allows voters to remove elected candidates before the end of their official tenure, however, more research would be needed to examine its application and effectiveness in India.[18]

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Written by- Aditi

References:

[1] Constitution of India | Legislative Department | India. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://legislative.gov.in/constitution-of-india/

[2] Pallathadka, H., & Pallathadka, L. K. (2022, December 7). Challenges and Hurdles Regarding Free and Fair Elections in India: A Study of Voters’ Opinion. Integrated Journal for Research in Arts and Humanities. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.55544/ijrah.2.6.30

[3] Limits of Candidates Expenses Enhanced. (2022, January 6). Election Commission of India. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://eci.gov.in/files/file/13928-limits-of-candidate%E2%80%99s-expenses-enhanced/

[4] Legal Affairs| Chapter 4. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://legalaffairs.gov.in/sites/default/files/chapter%204.pdf

[5] Increased Election Expenditure Limit. (n.d.). Drishti IAS. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-news-analysis/increased-election-expenditure-limit

[6] The Representation of the People Act, 1951 (Act No. 43 of 1951).|Legislative Department | Ministry of Law and Justice | GoI. (n.d.). Ministry of Law and Justice. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://lddashboard.legislative.gov.in/electionlawsrelated/representation-people-act-1951-act-no-43-1951

[7]Ibid

[8] The Gun That Killed JNU’s Chandrashekhar 20 Years Ago Was “Secular.” (n.d.). The Wire. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://thewire.in/politics/gun-killed-jnus-chandrashekhar-secular

[9] Ibid

[10] (n.d.). Challenges in the Management of Electoral Rolls. Bharat Nirvachan Aayog. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://hindi.eci.gov.in/files/file/8247-sikkim-e-roll-management/?do=download&r=18881&confirm=1&t=1&csrfKey=0140e9746f198c35f574fa15f490a549

[11] Desk, I. T. W. (2022, December 8). How The Votes Are Counted in Indian Elections. India Today. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://www.indiatoday.in/information/story/how-the-votes-are-counted-in-indian-elections-2306619-2022-12-08

[12] Securing the Vote. (2018, August 30). National Academies Press eBooks. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.17226/25120

[13] Choudhary, A. A. (2023, September 7). VVPATs for All Booths Will Be a Regressive Step: EC in SC. The Times of India. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/vvpats-for-all-booths-will-be-a-regressive-step-ec-in-sc/articleshow/103484618.cms?from=mdr

[14]Right to Recall and Democratic Fabric of India – Publications Repository (PURE). (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/4334/

[15] Ibid

[16] Ibid

[17] Corrupt Practices and Electoral Offences | State Election Commission, NCT of Delhi. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://sec.delhi.gov.in/sec/corrupt-practices-and-electoral-offences

[18] Ibid