Reforming Indian Electoral Process

Author(s): Sanjay Kumar

Source: Economic and Political Weekly , Aug. 24-30, 2002, Vol. 37, No. 34 (Aug. 24-30,
2002), pp. 3489-3491
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

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 case within two months time is being

Reforming Indian looked upon as another initiative towards

electoral reforms. Ever since the Supreme
Court passed the order, there has been
Electoral Process discomfort in political circles. The newly
appointed minister of state for law, Ravi
Shankar Prasad said, " if there is a popular

The attempt to reform the electoral system is a welcome move. urge to rectify something, the political
establishment should react through legis-
However, the current proposals on candidates' disclosures of
lative intervention". The government
various kinds do not appear to be well-constructed and the bill suggested the Election Commission to
includes ambiguities which are open to misinterpretation. It is approach the Supreme Court asking for
perhaps more important immediately to strengthen the system of some more time for implementation of the
court directives, but the Election Commis-
preparing electoral rolls and allowing public access to them.
sion went ahead implementing the court
reforms brought about in the recent past
order and issued a notification to this
SANJAY KUMAR
have been reducing the number of cam- effect on June 28, 2002.
Under the new rules all candidates
C oncerns for electoral reforms have paigning days from three to two weeks
seeking election to the Lok Sabha or the
been expressed from almost all time, raising the ceiling limit of election
Vidhan Sabha have to furnish on an af-
quarters in India. With various com- expenditure for contesting the Lok Sabha
fidavit, along with the nomination papers,
mittees for suggesting reforms in the Elections to Rs 15 lakh and for Vidhan
information with regard to whether the
electoral process being set up during the Sabha elections to Rs 6 lakh, raising the
candidate is convicted/acquitted/dis-
recent past, it is generally believed that the security deposit for contesting the Lok
concerns towards electoral reforms are Sabha elections to Rs 10,000 and for con- charged of any criminal offence in the past

somewhat new in India. The Dinesh testing the Vidhan Sabha election to if any, whether he is punished with im-
prisonment or fine. Prior to six months of
Goswami Committee was set up in 1990, Rs 5,000 in case of general candidates.
filing of nomination, whether the candi-
the Indrajit Gupta Committee was set up For candidates belonging to the scheduled
date is accused in any pending case, of any
in 1998 with the central issue of election caste (SC) or the scheduled tribe (ST)
offence punishable with imprisonment for
funding and the Law Commission submit- category, the security deposit has been
fixed for Rs 5,000-for contesting the Lok two years or more, and in which charge
ted its 170 report in 1999 suggesting wide
Sabha election and Rs 2,500 for contest- is framed or cognisance is taken by the
ranging reforms in the electoral process.
court of law. Further the contesting can-
In addition, the Election Commission of ing the Vidhan Sabha election. Under the
didate has to declare the assets (immov-
India has also taken initiative towards revised rules, a restriction has been im-
suggesting reforms in the election system posed on a candidate on contesting elec- able, movable, bank balance, etc) of the
since the 1980 and in its publication tion for not more than two constituencies spouse and the dependents,, liabilities if
Elections in India - Major Events and at one time. Under the new election law, any, particularly whether there are any
New Initiatives 1996-2000 suggested far election can be countermanded only on over dues of any public financial institu-
reaching reforms in the electoral process. the death of a party candidate and not in tion or government dues. Under the new
But one should take note that the con- case of the death of an independent can- rules, the contesting candidate is also
cern for electoral reforms has not become didate. As per the modified rules, a person required to disclose his educational quali-
fications.
fashionable only during the recent past. convicted by the trial court attracts dis-
In the all-party meeting held on July 8,
It was as early as 1974 that Jayaprakash qualification and even those who are
2002 on the issue of the Supreme Court
Narayan set up the Committee on Elec- released on bail during the pendency of
toral Reforms under the chairmanship of their appeals against convictions are dis- judgment on Electoral reforms, leaders of
21 political parties unanimously rejected
V M Tarkunde. Popularly known as the qualified forcontesting elections. All these
the Election Commission directive of June
Tarkunde Committee, the report on elec- reforms have been given effect by enact-
ments of the parliament. 28, 2002 to the candidates seeking details
toral reforms was submitted in the
of their assets and criminal antecedents,
year 1975. Besides these reports, there have
been several studies, which suggested Fallout of Supreme Court if any along with the nomination form.
various kinds of reforms in the Indian Judgment The government went ahead and drafted
a bill to amend certain sections of The
electoral system, but the book by L P
The recent judgment of the Supreme Representation of People's Act, 1951 (RP
Singh (Electoral Reforms) published in
Act) and has made various amendments
1986 has been perhaps the best of its kind. Court (May 2, 2002) relating to the right
in the rule, which has been implemented
In spite of so many committees and to information of the electors regarding
criminal antecedents, assets and liabilities by the Election Commission order of
reports, the concern on electoral reforms
and educational qualifications of the June 28 giving effect to the order of the
still continues mainly because, except for
Supreme Court of India. The proposed
bringing some procedural changes in the candidate in the civil appeal 'Union of
India vs Democratic Reforms and Others' reforms in the electoral system as drafted
electoral system, most of the suggestions
by the new amendment bill are most
of these committees have not been imple- directing the Election Commission to
likely to be introduced in the parliament
mented by the government. The electoral give effect as early as possible, and in any

Economic and Political Weekly August 24, 2002 3489

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in the ongoing monsoon session of the toral reforms of far reaching importance cruelty to wife, foreign exchange, drugs,
parliament. in such haste. crimes against places of worship, dowry,
The discomfort with regard to the new Though these concerns may be justified,sati etc. Further the list of heinous crime
law enforced by the Election Commission the amendments proposed in the draft bill does not include crimes like, possession
of India is on various grounds, Is Supreme prepared by the government with regardor manufacturing of explosives, bride
Court exceeding its jurisdiction and in- to disclosure of information relating to theburning, committing atrocities on the dalits
truding into legislative arena? Are we criminal past of the candidate are worthand adivais or trafficking in women and
setting precedence for judiciary to legis- introspecting. children. As per the provisions of the draft
late? Is Election Commission exceeding bill, a person can commit any of these
its jurisdiction? Who has the power to The Draft Bill offences any number of times, and can still
bring such changes.in the election rules/ contest election. In the present law con-
Provisions with Regard to
laws? Does this disclosure affect the right viction for any of these offences do invite
Criminality
to privacy of the candidate? There are disqualification, so why should the pro-
various other concerns expressed by dif- Under the proposed bill (Section 8B) posed
a bill not provide for disqualification
ferent people, but instead of getting into if charges are framed for any of these
candidate will be debarred from contesting
these legal issues in this section of the election to either the parliament or tooffences?
a While the efforts of the govern-
paper, it would be worth introspecting how state assembly if he is convicted and ment should be aimed at tightening the
these reforms could be operationalised and sentenced or charges have been framed in present law, the omission of some of the
to what extent these reforms could help court in "two separate criminal proceed- offences from the list of heinous crimes
making the Indian elections more free and ings" for commissions of heinous crimes inviting disqualification goes on to weaken
fair than at present. by a court of competent jurisdiction. In the provisions, which would invite dis-
While the spirit of the content of some both these cases the charges should come qualification.
new electoral laws implemented by the at least six months prior to the date on What surprises me are the provisions
Election Commission order seems to be all which nomination is filed. But if the in the draft bill with regard to the number
of committed crimes which invite disquali-
right, there are immense operational dif-proceedings are stayed from a higher court,
ficulties in ascertaining the facts that thethe candidate is exempted from disquali-
fication. The draft bill states that the person
candidate is required to disclose. While fication. The heinous crimes listed in the will invite disqualification only if he is
criminalisation of politics is an issue of bill are, waging war against the country,convicted or charges are framed in two
great concern, it should be noted that therekidnapping to murder, kidnapping for separate criminal offences. There seems to
are no authentic records about how many ransom, murder, dacoity, dacoity withbe no rationale for inserting the provisions
MLAs or MPs at present or in the recentmurder, rape, drug related crimes and for frequency of the crime. This would
past were criminals. There is a tendency terrorist related activities listed under simply mean that even if a person is con-
to generalise based on few examples.Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA).victed in one heinous offence like kidnap-
Further, the law needs to be absolutelyThe proposed bill states that a winningping, rape, murder etc. he would not invite
clear about who should be defined as candidate who hides or gives false infor-disqualification unless he commits the
criminal as there are many grey areas mation
in will be disqualified but only aftercrime of similar nature again. One would
he is elected. The winning candidate will
defining a criminal. A person can be crimi-
nal in the eyes of law since he hadalso beenbe punished with imprisonment for
involved in public activities defined atomaximum
be of three years or with fine or PARTICIPATORY
unlawful, but those acts at times are both.
ap-A loosing candidate can also be LEARNING AND ACTION
plauded by the common people. Agita- punished in the same way.
tions, gheraos, demonstration on issues It is welcome that the government has With 100 Field Methods
initiated
which, concerns people at large are a routine the process of serious thinking by Neela Mukherjee
about how to ban criminals from contest-
thing for people in politics. While a gherao
This book, meant for development
ing elections. But the provisions have
of the power station for demand of regular
inherent practitioners, field workers, project
supply of power is considered a matter of flaws and are not sufficient to
debar criminals from contesting elections
right by the people, it is may be considered
managers, extension agencies, field
researchers and policy-makers,
in India. If one looks at the proposed draft
unlawful in the eyes of the law. At times
such demonstrations also turn violent provides a wide range of field methods
bill one wonders, are we really interested
in debarring criminals from contesting
leading to police arrest and police cases for participatory sustainable
elections with these changes in the elec-
are also framed against the people, some development fully illustrated with
of which are even criminal charges. Iftoral
the laws? applications from different countries
While it is welcome that the proposed
law is implemented in its true spirit, even and localities.
bill lists different types of crimes, the 2002 334pp. Rs. 350
such people will be debarred from contest-
threshold of the nature of crime has been
ing election. Are we aiming to ban poli-
Concept Publishing Comp
further lowered compared to what exists
tician from participating in the demonstra-
A/15-16, Commercial Bloc
in the present law. The proposed bill does
tions, dharnas and gheroes, which are basic
Mohan Garden, New Delhi
political activities? While we should not
aimlist crimes relating to communal in-
citement,
for a free and fair poll in our country, it electoral offence, banned orga- Ph.5351460,5351794 Fax:091-11-5357103
nizations, promoting communal ill-will, Email : publishing@conceptpub.com
may not be appropriate to introduce, elec-

3490 Economic and Political Weekly August 24, 2002

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have had to rape twice or murder twice or government about making disclosurepercent have passed the primary school
commit one murder and one rape or commit mandatory only for the winning candidateand 20.9 percent have managed to com-
one dacoity and one murder or one dacoity and not for all contestants. But declaration plete education up to middle school.
and one rape or several other combinations by all candidates, about their movable and The electoral reforms introduced in the
of crimes in order to invite disqualifica- immovable assets, before election, is what recent past are welcome. Further some of
tion. The provisions of having committed should be welcomed at the moment. the new initiates, towards the process of
two not one offence is simply illogical. ensuring free and fair elections in India are
Further, the provisions of the draft bill Candidates' Educational also important. But, at the same time
state that the charges of any such heinous Qualifications foremost importance in the process of
crime must be framed six months prior to reforming the electoral system should be
the filling of the nomination. This time In the effort towards electoral reforms, given to maintaining an updated electoral
frame prescribed in the draft bill is also the Election Commission of India, by its roll in our country. The electoral roll is the
crazy. This would imply that if a person recent order has made it mandatory for all -basic tool of our electoral process, where
has been convicted of committing one contesting candidates, to disclose their names of all adult Indian citizens above
heinous crime by the court and charges of educational qualification. The draft bill the age of 18 should be recorded. But in
committing a heinous crime has been does not mention any provisions requiring practice, even after so many years of
framed just couple of days before the candidate to disclose their educational functioning of our democracy, we have not
proposed six month deadline, he would qualification. This is the most welcome been able to maintain a reasonably updated
not invite disqualification and would be change in the June 28, 2002 order oferror-free
the electoral roll.
allowed to contest election. What is the Election Commission which has made it Names of people long dead, still figure
logic behind the cut point of six months mandatory for all candidates to disclose in the electoral roll even after a couple of
is not very clear. revisions. there are also instances, where
their educational qualification while filing
their nomination in the name of voter's names of a large number of eligible voters
have
Candidate's Assets and Liability right to information. While the focus of been left out from the electoral roll.
the judgment of the Supreme Court with In some cases, it is the result of an error,
regard tb the process of electoral reforms
With the implementation of the Supreme but at the same time, there are incidences,
Court order by the Election Commissionhad been on how to make Indian elections when names of people belonging to par-
of India, it has become mandatory for more
all ticular community have been systemati-
free and fair, I really do not find any
connection between candidate's educa-
contesting candidates to declare their assets cally left out or deleted from the electoral
tional level and free and fair elections.
and liabilities at the time of filing of the roll. Various studies have highlighted the
nomination papers. This was generally aDoes it mean that higher the educational inadequacies of our electoral roll.
welcome step towards the process of elec- level, lesser the tendency to indulge inThere are various aspects of electoral
toral reforms, which may ensure greater electoral malpractices and vice-versa? It reforms,
is but the entire thrust on the issue
unclear to what kind of electoral reform
transparency for people in public life, than of electoral reforms have been mainly on
exists at present. But the draft RPA bill could be introduced if the contesting how to restrict people from contesting
contains no provisions for disclosure candidates
of declare their educational quali-elections, or to reform the electoral system
the property and assets owned by the fication? In the name of electoral reforms,in a way to facilitate the conduct of elec-
contesting candidates or dependents dur- are we moving ahead in prescribing antion by the election machinery. The basic
educational qualification for contestingapproach towards electoral reforms has
ing the filing of the nomination papers.
Contrary to the Supreme Court order, there elections in India? While the recent order
been incorporating ornamental manage-
of the Election Commission does not
are no provisions in the draft bill requiring rial changes. To me the first and the fore-
the contesting candidate to declare any suggest this, I am suspicious, that asking most initiative in the field of electoral
dues to banks and public financial insti-for the candidates to declare about their reforms should be efforts to maintain an
educational qualification may create someupdated error-free electoral roll, to make
tutions (such as overdue loans, etc) or over
dues to the government (such as house kind of a negative bias in the minds of the it more people friendly, so that voter reg-
voters for candidates who are less edu-
rent, telephone, electricity, water bill, travel istration and its accessibility is made much
bill, etc) which have not been paid. cated or are illiterate. simpler.
The proposed bill (Section 4) goes fur-Politicians are the people's representa- Only those who might have experienced,
ther to state that, the candidate shall not can tell, how difficult it is at the moment
tives who reflect the reality of the nation.
to get yourself enrolled as a voter or
In a country where 57.2 per cent people
be required to disclose information under
reenrolled, if left out while revision or
still remains illiterate (1991 census fig-
any law, judgment, decree, or order of any
ures, also includes children between 0-6
court or directions, order or 'instructions updating was carried out by the govern-
of the Election Commission except the years) and even among literates, only 5.7ment. Public access of the electoral roll of
original RPA Act itself. These provisions percent are graduates or much higheryour locality is difficult. Once we ensure
an updated electoral roll, half the battle on
education, and only 19.4 percent are matric
clearly state that the bill, if passed by the
parliament would be the final word and pass (class 10th), how reasonable is it to electoral reforms is won. Unless we can
that neither the Supreme Court nor the guarantee this basic political right to all
expect people's representatives to be highly
educated? Even among those who are adult citizens of this country, other efforts
Election Commission of India can add any
literates, 25.2 percent have attained edu-towards electoral reforms seem to be of
more ground for disclosure by the candi-
date. There is serious thinking in the cation below primary level, another 28.7 little significance. [i3

Economic and Political Weekly August 24, 2002 3491

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