Election process has been reformed since the Indian Councils Act of 1892. Here, reform is an ongoing process, whenever society feels like the present customs, laws or principles are not able to satisfy the needs of the people then change takes place in the form of Evolution or Revolution. Like the Socio-cultural reform movement (Women’s education movement, Anti Sati Pratha movement etc.). In the same manner, we can see an evolution in elections in India, which can be termed as Election Reforms in India.
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Historical Background of Election Reform in India
The Concept of Electoral democracy emerged with the birth of the Legislature. The pioneer of legislation in Modern India is T. B. Macaulay under whose Chairmanship first Law Commission was set up in 1834, under Charter Act of 1833. The first Law Commission has 3 members with one Chairman. Till Indian Councils Act of 1892 the number of members was increased but these members were nominated. This council was named as Governor General’s Legislative council and after 1858 it became Viceroy’s Legislative Council. After the Indian Council Act of 1861 for the first time 3 Indian members were nominated in the Legislative Council. First elections were held after 1892 with limited franchise.
The concept of Separate Electorate was introduced under Act of 1909 for Muslims and under act of 1919 it was extended to Sikh, Indian Christian, Anglo-Indian and European. On the Other hand the concept of Reservation in Legislature is the brainchild of Poona Pact of 1932 between Gandhi and Ambedkar.
Although, numbers of seats were increased under various Act but for Central Legislature the election was indirect even in Constituent Assembly. The first Direct election happened in the First General Election of India.
Election Reforms in India After Independence
Basic Constitutional reform
With the commencement of the Constitution various things changed like abolition of Separate Electorate, no reservation on the basis of Religion, But reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe were introduced in Lok-Sabha under Article 330 and in State Legislature under Article 332. These Election Reforms in India are part of inclusion of socially and educationally backword classes. Article 331 and 333 also talk about the representation of Anglo-Indian. All these provisions were renewed in a time interval of 10 years, but this time Article 331 and 333 were not renewed. Basic reforms also include the role of Election Commission, Universal adult Franchise etc.
Model Code of conduct (MCC)
In 1960, during the Legislative Assembly elections in Kerala, for the first time the concept of MCC was introduced as a guideline for the Political Parties. So, MCC guides the behavior of Political Parties and Candidates through its specific norms, values, and rules during elections. These guidelines are issued by the Election Commission of India. These Guidelines automatically came into picture after announcement of election by the Election Commission. Most of its elements are not legally enforceable but some of it can be enforceable through Representation of Peoples Act 1951 and also through few other Acts of Parliament. So, it is a kind of moral obligation for contesting candidates and Political parties.
Anti-Defection Law
Under 52nd Constitutional Amendment 1985, Parliament enshrined Anti-Defection Law under the 10th schedule of the Constitution as an Election Reforms in India. This law is introduced to provide stability to the government and Parliamentary System. If any Member of Parliament or legislative Assembly selected with the name and sign of Political Party, and after being selected he/she defects the party guideline the he/she can be disqualified from being a member. Nowadays it is the most useless provision because of a loophole, which is “the power of disqualification comes under the jurisdiction of the Speaker”. Still the political leaders easily change their Party by making fools of People.
Women’s Participation and Election reforms in India
In Indian culture or in any civilized culture we can see the marginalization of women. They were deprived of their political and socio-economic rights. So, for a developing country like India it is very crucial to safeguard women’s rights, because their contribution remains about 10% even though they have approx. 50% contribution in population . Through 73rd and 74th Amendment of Constitution Parliament enshrined the compulsory ⅓ reservation of seats for women in local governance of Panchayati raj and municipality respectively. These provisions were included under Article 243d and 243t of Constitution respectively.
To further strengthen the political Rights of women, the Government Introduced “Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam” under 106th Constitutional amendment Act of 2023. Under this provision ⅓ of seats in Lok-Sabha, Legislative assembly of states and UT of Delhi were reserved for women. But we have to wait for the next Census, then next Delimitation. Possibly it will come into picture in 2039.
EVM and VVPAT
Electronic Voting Machines were first used in the by-election of Paravur (Kerala Assembly Constituency ) in 1982. Amendments were made in RPA 1951 and Conduction of election Rule 1961 to use EVM as an Instrument of Election. The manufacturing of these EVMs were done by Electronics Corporation of India and Bharat Electronics. On the other hand Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail was first used in Noksen (Assembly Constituency of Nagaland). These two machines as a part of Election Reforms in India were used to fasten the election and also enforce transparency.
Voter Registration & Authentication
In 1993 Election Commission Introduced the Voter ID to curb the duplication of voter but the fake voting perpetuates in India. It should be linked with Aadhar, then with the help of Biometric Data so fake voting will end. The Election Commission also provides a slip of identification before each election which contains Booth Address, Roll number, Voter ID number etc.
Financial reforms
Money, an Important instrument of election campaigns, can be termed as power. So, the difference in money infringes the concept of Level Playing Field. So, the Election Commission has fixed the maximum spending, more than that an election contesting member cannot spend on a particular constituency. But the Election Commission is not able to curb Political Parties spending.
For Transparency and Accountability the Modi Government introduced the policy of Electoral Bond. So, the Electoral Funding can be linked with the Banking System. There was also an invisible clause of anonymity. But the Supreme Court declared this policy as unconstitutional.
There are more financial reforms like filing of Income Tax return by Political Party, filing of expenditure statement by election contesting candidates, increase in fees of contesting election etc.
None of the Above (NOTA)
If any elector doesn’t want to choose any candidate in the list then he can press the NOTA button on EVM. This concept was introduced for the first time in 2013 in India. It was one of the important steps of election reforms in India, because it introduced the concept of Right to Reject in elections in India. But the irony is, if NOTA wins the election the Candidate who is second will be declared as winner.
Some Suggested Reforms
One Nation One Election
Recently, the Central Cabinet gave its approval to “One Nation One Election”. Hitherto, in India various elections of Constitutional Bodies happened throughout the year. Here, the idea is to make all elections in India on a single time frame, once in a 5 year term. It requires the Constitutional Amendment in Various provisions of the Constitution. But, the question arises here that, is The Election Commission Of India enough competent to perform this? Because recently the General Election took 2 months of time and the Election Commission was not able to Conduct J&K, Haryana and Maharashtra elections all together.
Some more suggestion
- The Election Commission of India Suggested for making MCC Legally binding
- If NOTA wins, re-election should be there.
- Each slip VVPAT should be counted to ensure transparency in elections.
- Linking of Voter ID with Aadhar.
Challenges to Election Process
There are various Challenges remain since Independence and some new are coming these are :-
- Money and Mussel power to divert the elections in some other direction
- New instruments like EVMs and the belief of People.
- Intra party democracy, some claim a particular party in the web of nepotism on the other hand some parties were ruled single handedly.
- Financial reforms by the Government were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Who is the culprit here?
- Decriminalization of politics, still the number of criminal charged Members of Parliament and Legislative Assembly is high.
Conclusion
As per the Gandhian Philosophy, “Politics without Principles” is one of the “Seven Sins”. Yes, Indian Institutions are trying well in the field of Election Reforms in India, but the challenges can easily be addressed if this philosophy of Gandhi is followed by every individual of the country.
Author:- K. D.