INTRODUCTION

Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world says larry J sabatio .
“Power”, where does it come from ? who has it ? who gives it ? IT’s you , it’s me and it
comes from each one of us sitting here and every single individual out there in the world.
Power , we give submission to one of us . who we consider could lead through the
uncertainity and instability. But how does it flow ? Anyone ?
It’s flows through trust. Now you might be thinking trust is an abstract thing , how can it flow
tangibly to have the powers passed. It’s flows through vote.
A very pleasant morning to every potential and I’d quote ‘responsible’ voter , present here
and respected maam. Today we are gonna throw some light upon the biggest festival held in
india – Elections . india being the biggest democracy , it’s people holding immense power
and potential to actually ‘change’ has it’s procedure flowing through the hues of election
being and getting out in different colors, the most prominent one being Saffron recently.
Let’s have a look at what ethical elections mean.
What is an ethical elections?
When ethics are followed in the process of voting as Each citizen has a civic duty to vote.
When voters realise the importance of their voting right and exercise it with full awareness
and understanding the result is an ethical election. In extenuating circumstances, one can be
excused from voting, but otherwise, one should vote. While it is true that there can be better
or worse candidates, in general any good faith vote is morally acceptable. At the very least, it
is better to vote than to abstain. It is inherently wrong to buy or sell one’s vote.
WHY ELECTIONS ARE NEEDED?

 Elections form the bedrock of the largest democracy in the world - India. Since
Independence, as many as 15 Lok Sabhas have been formed through elections, the
first one being held in 1951-52. The methodology of election is through universal
adult suffrage, whereby every citizen of India over 18 years of age is an eligible voter
in the eyes of the Constitution.

 Elections provide a way to the people to assert their voice, opinion and choose the
person whose priorities and ideas matches with them most. In India the elections are
not new and they started taking place before the independence from British rule itself.
But before independence the franchise was quit limited and very few were having
rights to participate and vote.
 Choice of leadership: Elections provide a way for the citizens of India to choose their
leaders. They do so by casting their vote in favour of the candidate or party whose
views appeal to them. This ensures that the will of the people is reflected in the
elected candidates.

 Change of leadership: Elections in India are also a platform for the public to voice
their resentment against a ruling party. By voting for other parties and helping elect a
different government, citizens demonstrate that they possess ultimate authority.
  Political participation: Elections open the door for new issues to be raised in public. If
a citizen of India wishes to introduce reforms that are not the agenda of any of the
parties, he or she is free to contest the elections either independently or by forming a
new political party.

 Self-corrective system: Because elections are a regular exercise, occurring every five
years in India, the ruling parties are kept in check and made to consider the demands
of the public. This works as a self-corrective system whereby political parties review
their performance and try to appease the voters.

What is ECI?

 The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority

responsible for administering Union and State election processes in India.

 The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and State Legislative
Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the
country.

Related Constitutional Provisions

 Part XV of the Indian constitution deals with elections, and establishes a commission
for these matters.

 The Election Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on

25th January 1950.

 Article 324 to 329 of the constitution deals with powers, function, tenure, eligibility,
etc of the commission and the member.

The ethical act of voting

There is a puzzling trait that is pervasive and human. It is that we often judge others with a
different yardstick than with which we judge ourselves. When I visit an organisation, there is
always somebody who complains that their colleagues do not work at all. Ironically, the
colleagues also say the same thing about others in the organisation. Our self-perception is
often at odds with the way others see us. This is also part of a deeper human malaise: we
think others are wrong and we are right in our beliefs and opinions. Elections exemplify these
tendencies very well.
In the time of elections, we repeatedly hear these sentiments about other voters. The upper
classes will tell you that poorer citizens vote only to get benefits such as cash, clothes,
television sets and other consumer goods. The majority group will say that the minorities vote
as a bloc since they have all been told whom to vote for. These are seen as examples of voters
not doing their duty of voting for the best person, namely, the best political representative
who will govern well. 
What does it mean to perform the act of voting correctly? It is often said that voting is a duty,
but what kind of a duty is it? Is it to make a mark on a sheet or is it actually a particular
process of thinking and deciding?
Consider the act of voting by those who get paid before they vote. This practice is not only
endemic across States but is also done quite brazenly in some places. Party members go
house to house and distribute money and other goods. 
Is Election reduced to transaction in the eyes of people?
This cash-for-votes practice seem to go against the very grain of democratic election.
In the case of taking money or goods, voters see elections as a transaction. What they are
basically asking is this: what am I getting in return for voting for you? This goes against a
fundamental principle of democratic voting, which is that voting is not a transaction
We are clearly helping somebody else by voting. If a person wins because of our votes, then
he or she derives enormous benefit from being a member of the legislature. There is a direct
benefit to the person who is elected — she enjoys a lot of power after being elected. This is
the dilemma in electing somebody. We are supposed to vote for free, whereas the result of
our action ends up making another person better off. So why is voting not seen as a business
transaction since the winner of the election profits from the action of the voter? Why can’t the
voter who is enabling opportunity for another person’s wealth ask for a share in that wealth?
If voters do so, then they are behaving rationally.
When we vote based on our ideology, we are following the same logic as those taking money.
Those for whom small amounts of money do not matter ask for other favours, including
protection of their interests, whether their religion, their caste or even economic benefits
appropriate to their class. When a group of rich people vote for a person who supports lower
taxes, they are doing exactly the same as the poor, since voting is used as a transaction to get
something they desire.
VOTING AS A RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
The dynamics of voting is thus a complex problem of rationality, similar to problems in
rational choice theory. 
The fundamental problem lies in viewing voting as a transaction, the aim of which is to get
some benefit for an individual or a group. But we have to recognise that voting is not like any
other transaction. The duty that is inherent in the act of voting is an ethical duty, not just a
constitutional one. It is the duty of having to act not for individual benefit, such as money or
ideology, but for the benefit of the larger society. Such benefit for the larger society will
include others benefiting as much as each one of us does through each of our votes.
Sunder sakkurai , a political philosopher says , This duty is the ethical rationality related to
voting. It is also a recognition that a democratic action like voting is primarily for the good of
something larger than one’s self interests.

MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT

Whenever ethical conduct is talked about , a framework that defines the boundaries of all the
actors cannot be overlooked. It is Model code of conduct. The MCC is a set of guidelines
issued by the Election Commission (EC) to regulate political parties and candidates prior to
elections. Basically, the code spells out the do's and don’ts for elections.
This is in keeping with Article 324 of the Constitution, which mandates EC to conduct free
and fair elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures.
.
The need for such code is in the interest of free and fair elections. However, the code does not
have any specific statutory basis. It has only a persuasive effect. It contains what is known
as “rules of electoral morality”. But this lack of statutory backing does not prevent the
Commission from enforcing it.
The Commission issued the code for the first time in 1971 (5th Election) and revised it from
time to time. This set of norms has been evolved with the consensus of political parties who
have consented to abide by the principles embodied in the said code and also binds them to
respect and observe it in its letter and spirit.
The latest is the introduction of the cVIGIL mobile app through which audio-visual evidence
of malpractices can be reported.
T N SESSION : AN ERA OF REVOLUTION IN VOTING
T N session is best known for his electoral reforms. He redefined the status and visibility of
the Election Commission of India. He identified more than hundred electoral malpractices
and reformed the election process. Some of reforms he implemented include enforcement
of election code of conduct, Voter IDs for all eligible voters, limit on election candidates'
expenditure, appointing election officials from states other than the one facing polls.
Elections in India involves running 850,000 voting booths for which around 5 million
personnel are required. A large security force is also required. This demand is met by
employing temporary state employees to the election commission. But Mr.Seshan noticed
that these employees took their job lightly and were not performing well. So, he began to
investigate this issue. There used to be extreme corruption in voting during 1960 and 1970’s ,
election commission though powerful was actually in the pocket of the ruling regime and was
afraid to voice against the popular opinion. In bihar and up whole of polling booths were
captured and thousands of bogous votes were cast inethically , which greatly undermined the
essence of democratic representation and made a mockery of utmost will of people. This
practice was increasing every year and election had become a horror rather than a celebrated
eve with loads of people sacrificing their lives in lieu of preventing inethical practices . All
those who tried to raise their voice against the malpractices were brutally supressed even to
the extent of killing. This lead to a major setback in the elections and people’s faith in leaders
was declining. As there is always a silver lining in the cloud , there emerged a leader that was
to gain all the support of people and bring back the derailed train of election to track. TN
Session took a path of utmost strict implementation of model code of conduct which were
being outrightly flouted earlier by the parties. In the state of bihar and Uttar Pradesh proper
army force was deployed to look after any bogous practices in the vicinity of polling booths.

“It was not that I introduced a new reform in the system," says Seshan. "In fact, I didn’t even
add one comma, semicolon or a full stop to the Act. Whatever was said in the Act, I
implemented."
The era of TN Session was indeed an era of change for improvement.  Tirunellai
Narayanaiyer Seshan is revered for his stint as the Chief Election Commissioner for his
honesty and his efforts to put an end to corruption during the election process.

1. Insuring the autonomy and integrity of the Election Commission

2. Empowering the voters
3. Reforming or changing electoral procedures
4. Changing the election laws

During his tenure as the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr. Seshan reviewed more than
forty thousand cases of false election and disqualified around fourteen thousand candidates
for public offence. He resolved one of the high-profile case involving Subramanian Swami
and the Janata Party in one hearing while his predecessor held multiple hearings, made 1600
pages of notes and did not take any decision. He did not give in to any demands of
politicians. To curtain Mr.Seshan’s power, Parliament amended the Constitution and added
two commissioners to share power with him.

RECENT INSTANCES OF VIOLATION OF MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT

1.Recently, during Delhi Assembly elections, police sized huge quantity of liquor which was
meant to lure voters.

2.The ECI was flooded with complaints of violations of MCC in terms of personal
allegations, publicity material and schedule, hate speeches, among others.

3.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had complained against the BJP’s front page advertisement
in various newspapers a day before polling, listing the achievements of the Narendra Modi
government and asking people to vote for it in the Assembly polls. Both the parties made
their argument and it was for the Election Commission to decide whether the advertisement
had violated the code of conduct or not.

4.During the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, the National Conference filed a
complaint against Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for misuse of government agencies, a
violation of the MCC.

5. Also the political parties have started to use internet as a means to propogate their agenda
and influence youth to their ideologies.

CRITICISMS

1.ELECTORAL BOND ACT

Electoral bond is a financial instrument for making donations to political parties.

Or can be called as illegal cash funding to political parties in a legal way.

The bonds are issued in multiples of 1000rs. To 1 crore without any maximum limit, you see
it ‘without any maximum limit’ so may be the vicious circle of corruption and erosion of
democratic party starts from here.

This gift coupons are highly anonymous , neither the donor nor the political party is obligated
to reveal whom the donation is coming from.

HOW GOVERNMENT DEFENDS THIS

Only parties registered under the Representation of the people act 1951, could receive
donations through electoral bonds and they should not have secured less than 1% of the votes
polled in the previous elections

Along with it only white money is involved in the bonds as the amounts are paid only
through cheque or demand draft.

ECI was not opposed to the bonds but was only concerned about the aspect of anonymity.

It also urged the court not to stay the bonds and said the scheme is one step forward
compared to the old system of cash funding, which was unaccountable.

2.Using states’ money power and people for elections According The preliminary data from
the second State of Democracy in Shows that that people have been loosing faith in the
democracy and elections. Only 47% people in India have faith in Indian democracy and this
number keeps declining . Interest in politics is growing but faith in poltics is declining . so
why is it so that democracy being the best form of government still is unable to gain the trust
of the people. Letr’s try to answer this question. There have many controversies and dark
incidents associated with the process of elections.

When we talk about controversies happened in Indian election , the Indira Gandhi fiacsco
must be mentioned. During 1971 election , Indira Gandhi contested elections against Raj
Narain from Rai Bairllry. Mrs. Gandhi won election with just one or two votes but Raj Narain
filed a suit alleging that Indira Gandhi used bribery, government machinery and resources to
gain an unfair advantage in contesting the election. Narain specifically charged Gandhi of
using government employees as election agents and of organising campaign activities in the
constituency while still on the payroll of the government. The court ruled against Mrs.
Gandhi and she had to vacate her seat. This was one of the biggest incident of election
Malpractices.

3.Another dark incident in history of Indian election was last year’s Bengal poll violence. A
BJP worker Joy Prakash Yadav was was hit by a crude bomb in front of his house in
Bhatpara and a 60 year old lady was brutually raped. After the polls, leaflets surfaced in
Mahisda village of Paschim Medinipur naming 18 Opposition workers and ordering a social
boycott, allegedly distributed by TMC workers. Most of the culprits have not been arrested
and investigations have not seen any progress.
4.Election Amendment bill introduced in the lok sabha in 2021 aims to bring certain electoral
reforms. One of the key issue regarding this bill was Linking electoral roll data with
Aadhaar. This raised huge privacy concerns and has been criticsed by many.

5.Biased voting . India is very diverse country , different people have different identity and
beliefs on the basis of their religion , caste , region. But this becomes problematic when
people vote on the basis of these paramenters only . During 1957 elections Nehru talked
about this problem. He criciticesd the whole process saying that fundamental issues are
seldomly mentioned and many people on the basis Candidate’s religion , ethincicity etc

Voters elected leaders whom they did not know, with whom they did not and could not
communicate, and over whom they had no control after the electionsVoters elected leaders
whom they did not know, with whom they did not and could not communicate, and over
whom they had no control after the elections Elections are the sacraments of that new faith, a
ritual regarded as a vital necessity in which the form is more important than the content.

6.whisper campaign
The act of spreading negative rumors about a political candidate, in order to discredit him or
her in the eyes of voters. This can also be called a whispering campaign.

It’s usually hard to trace whisper campaigns back to their source. That’s the point, of course:
whisper campaigns are meant to spread innuendos anonymously and spoiling the reputation
of the candidate so that he didn’t get votes

Push polling- its an unfair and unethical political device used to communicate negative
messages. Under the guise of conducting a legitimate poll, defamatory or otherwise negative
and usually false information is conveyed.

7.Unfair Competition 

Practices that hamper the opponent’s ability to fairly compete are unethical. You will
sometimes see wealthy candidates hiring as many political consultants as are available, not
for their services, but to keep them from working for the opponent. If a candidate condones
the removal of posters, or any behavior that stifles the opponent’s message, he or she is
engaging in unethical campaigning

8.Intimidation of voters, or voter intimidation, refers to the act of intimidating, threatening,

or coercing another person to interfere with their right to vote for the candidate of their choice
and deliberately gaining their votes through through intimidation.

Offering freebies- Political parties promise to offer free electricity/water supply, monthly
allowance to unemployed, daily wage workers and women as well as gadgets like laptops,
smartphones etc. in order to secure the vote of the people.
RECOMMENDATION
Ideal App

There has been one idea I’ve always pondered. What if there is information available to
citizens about the candidate they vote for. All the data regarding their backgrounds , criminal
accusations , public work , party contribution , achievements etc. be available at the
convenience of one tap. This idea entails a software application in which all the significant
information which may influence the right to choice of voters be available to all citizens of
India as and when required. Voter literacy is a very important element to exercise free ,
unbiased and intelligent voting . Availability of data in a user friendly language would
ensure wide reach among the masses and optimum utilization of this opportunity lest the
political barriers jump in try to save the traditional ignorance of the voters. Though there are
many obstacles in it’s implementation but political will and collective awareness of their right
to information can manifest it into a reality.

 Voter literacy – Voter must know how their votes will contribute to the final result in
a election. Ask a question to yourself , do you really know whom are you voting , how
majority seats of a party in loksabha and raj sabha affects the process , does it involve
a more complicated preferential voting system?

To interpret how socio economic factors affects behaviour of a voter , viewing wealth
and region in which the voter lives impacts upon their electoral choices.