Machineries to conduct Election:

Chief Electoral Officer:

 He is authorized to supervise election work in the state/Union Territory, subject to the

Election Commission's overall supervision, direction, and control.

 The chief electoral officer of each State shall supervise the conduct of all elections in the
State under this Act.

 Appointed by ECI in consultation with State government.

District Election officer: In consultation with the state government, the Election Commission of
India nominates or designates an officer of the state government as the District Election Officer
(DEO).

Section 26 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires the District Election Officer to
appoint a Presiding Officer and as many Polling Officers as he deems necessary.

Function:

 Transport and storage of EVMs and other election stationery.

 Keeping a record of election expenses and reporting to the Commission.

 Supervising the poll process on Election Day and reporting to the Commission on poll events
on a regular basis.

 Supervising the counting of votes and reporting to the Commission as needed.

 For each polling station within his jurisdiction.

Returning Officer:

 A Returning Officer is responsible for overseeing the election in a constituency, or sometimes

in two constituencies, as directed by the Election Commission (EC).

 The EC appoints the Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officer for a constituency in
consultation with the governments of the State or Union Territory as the case may be.

 He administers the oath of candidate after filling of nomination.

 When an application for recounting of votes is made the returning officer shall decide the
matter and may allow the application in whole or in part or may reject it in its entirety if it
appears to him to be frivolous or unreasonable.

 In such a case, only legal remedy is to file an EP (election petition) before the high court. As
per provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the decision of a returning
officer can only be challenged through an election petition under section 80 of the Act.

Electoral Registration officer: The Election Commission of India, in consultation with the state/
UT government, appoints an officer of the government or the local authorities as the Electoral
Registration Officer. He is responsible for the preparation of electoral rolls for a Parliamentary
assembly constituency.
Presiding Officer: The Presiding Officer with the assistance of polling officers conducts the poll
at a polling station. The District Election Officer appoints the Presiding Officers and the Polling
Officers. In the case of Union Territories, such appointments are made by the Returning Officers.

Observers: Observers of the Election Commission of India are appointed under the powers
conferred on it by Section 20B of the Representation of People Act, 1951 and the plenary powers
available to the Commission under Art-324 of the Constitution of India. They are the appointees
of the Commission working under the superintendence, control and discipline of the
Commission for the period from their appointment until the process of elections is completed.

Electoral Laws:

 Representation of the People Act 1950: This Act governs the conduct of elections to State
Legislatures and to Parliament. This act is concerned with the preparation of electoral rolls
and their revisions.

 The Registration of Electors Rules 1960: Under Section 28 of the Act, these rules were made
by the Central Government along with the Election Commission and supplements the
provisions of this act with detailed rules. All rules relating to the preparation of electoral rolls,
their periodic updating and revision fall under this provision. It provides for the registration
of eligible electors and the issue of electoral identity cards with the voter's photograph. It
also includes rules on the inclusion of eligible voters, the exclusion of ineligible voters and
any corrections required. With these rules, the Election Commission is empowered to
prepare the photo electoral rolls which will contain the name, photograph and other
particulars of the electors.

 Representation of the People Act 1951: This Act governs the actual conduct of elections to
State Legislatures and to Parliament. According to this Act, all post-election matters that
comprise of doubts and disputes that arise out of the elections or are in connection with the
elections, will be dealt with in accordance to the provisions of this Act. All disputes can be
raised in the High Court of the respective State. These post-election matters can be raised
after the election is over and not during the process of it.

 Conduct of Elections Rules 1961: These rules were framed under Section 169 of the Act by
the Central Government along with the Election Commission. It deals with detailed rules for
every stage of the conduct of elections. It encompasses the issue of the writ notification for
conducting elections, filing of nominations, and the scrutiny of the nominations. It also deals
with withdrawal of candidates. Taking the polls and counting votes are also governed by
these rules. Finally, the constitution of the Houses based on the results are also categorised
under these rules.

Recent Amendment in RPA 1951:

 De-Duplication of Electoral Roll: It provides for amendment of section 23 of the RPA 1950

enabling the linking of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem.
  Multiple Qualifying Dates: The citizens get voting rights when they turn 18. However,
many are left out of the electoral rolls even after turning 18. This is because in the
system, 1st January is the qualifying date.
 According to the bill, four qualifying dates will be declared for updating the voting rolls to
include those who have turned 18 — the first day of the months of January, April, July
and October.
 Bringing Gender Neutrality: The language for registration of ‘wives of service voters’ will
now be replaced by ‘spouse’. This will make the laws more “gender-neutral”.

Challenges with the Election

Criminalisation of Politics: According to ADR, 187 MPs in Lok Sabha have criminal charges and
113 face Serious criminal charges.

Causes of Criminalisation of Politics:

 Vote bank Politics

 Black money in elections:- Since candidates with criminal records often possess greater
wealth, they ensure greater inflow in money, labour and other advantages that may help a
party in successful campaign, and also possess greater ‘winnability’

 Lack of Intra-party democracy

 Lack of adequate deterrence: Due to the low levels of convictions of MPs and MLAs, and
delays in trials political parties are not deterred from giving tickets to criminals.

 First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system: The FPTP electoral system allows a candidate to
be declared elected from the constituency on the basis of plurality of votes polled and not on
the majority of votes polled. Thus, a candidate with as low as 25-30% of valid votes polled
may get elected. Criminals do not find it difficult to secure the votes because of the use of
their money and muscle power.

What are the legal Frameworks related to Criminalization in Politics?

Parliament through the RPA has prescribed further qualifications and disqualifications for
membership to Parliament or to a Legislative Assembly.

 Section 8 of the Act lists certain offences which, if a person is convicted of any of them,
disqualifies him from being elected, or continuing as a Member of Parliament or Legislative
Assembly.

 A candidate to any National or State Assembly elections is required to furnish an affidavit, in

the shape of Form 26 appended to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

 Failure to furnish this information, concealment of information or giving of false information

is an offence under Section 125 of the RPA.

What does the RPA say?

There are several provisions that deal with disqualification under the RPA.
 Section 8 of the RPA deals with disqualification for conviction of certain offences.
  Section 8(1A) of the act includes specific offences such as promoting enmity between two
groups, bribery, and undue influence or personation at an election.
 Section 8(2A) lists offences that deal with hoarding or profiteering, adulteration of food
or drugs and for conviction and sentence of at least six months for an offence under any
provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
 Section 8(3A) disqualifies a convicted person who has been sentenced to imprisonment
for not less than two years. He is disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall
continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release.
 Section 9: Disqualification for dismissal for corruption or disloyalty.
 Section 9(A): Disqualification for Government contracts, etc.
 Section 10: Disqualification for office under Government company.
 Section 10(A). Disqualification for failure to lodge account of election expenses.
 Section 11: Removal or reduction of period of disqualification.
 Section 11(A): Disqualification arising out of conviction and corrupt practices.
 Section 11(B): Removal of disqualifications.

What are the initiatives taken by SC in this regard?

 2013: In Lily Thomas v. Union of India, The SC held that Section 8(4) of The Representation of
the People Act, 1951 is unconstitutional which allows MPs and MLAs who are convicted to
continue in office till an appeal against such conviction is disposed of. The court held that
MP/MLA convicted for two years or above would be disqualified immediately.

 2018: In Public Interest Foundation & Others Vs Union of India, left the matter of
disqualification of politicians carrying criminal charges against them, to the Parliament saying
that the court cannot add to the grounds of disqualification. However, it made the following
directions:

 While filling the nomination forms, candidates must declare their criminal past and the cases
pending against them in bold letters.

 Political parties are also responsible for putting up details of criminal cases filed against their
candidates on their websites.

 Candidate and the concerned political party will have to issue a declaration in widely
circulated newspapers in the locality and in electronic media about his or her criminal
antecedents.

 2020, the court had asked the particle parties to state, “The reasons for such selection, as
also as to why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as
candidates.” If a political party fails to comply, it would be in contempt of this court’s orders.

Recommendations: The Law Commission in its 244th report on Electoral Reforms titled
“Electoral disqualifications” had put forward recommendations on the-criminalization of politics.
The main recommendations include:

 Expediting trials in relevant courts where a case is led against a sitting MP/MLA and to
conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis with an outer limit of completing the trial in one year.

 The punishment for filing false affidavits under Section 125A be increased to a minimum of
two years.
 Conviction under Section 125A should be made a ground for disqualification under Section
8(1) of the RPA, 1951.

Political Funding: Political Funding implies the methods that political parties use to raise funds
to finance their campaign and routine activities.

The sources of Political Funding are: -

 Individual Persons: Section 29B of RPA allows political parties to receive donations from
individual persons.

 Corporate Funding: In India, donations by corporate bodies are governed under the
Companies Act, 2013.

 State/Public Funding: Here, the government provides funds to parties for election related
purposes. State Funding is of two types:

 Direct Funding: The government provides funds directly to the political parties. Direct
funding by tax is prohibited in India.

 Indirect Funding: It includes other methods except direct funding, like free access to media,
free access to public places for rallies, free or subsidized transport facilities. It is allowed in
India in a regulated manner.

 Over 55% of the donations received by regional parties in FY 2019-20 came from
“unknown” sources, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said in a report.
 National political parties collected ₹2,172.23 crore, or 65% of their funding, from
unknown sources in financial year 2021-2022, a majority of it received through
anonymous electoral bonds, election watch body Association for Democratic Reforms 
 Known sources” are defined as donations above ₹20,000, whose donor details are
available through contribution reports as submitted by national parties to the Election
Commission. These include sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of
publications, party levies and sale of moveable and immovable assets, old newspapers,
membership fees, delegate fee, etc, whose details would be available in the books of
accounts maintained by political parties.
Highlights of the report

 Huge share from “unknown” sources: Electoral bonds accounted for nearly 95% of the
donations from “unknown” sources.
o The report noted that donations received by national parties from “unknown”
sources added up to 70.98% of their income.

Recent steps taken by Government to check issue of political funding:

➔ Electoral Bond: Electoral bond is a bearer instrument in the manner of a promissory note
and an interest free banking instrument whereby a citizen, or a corporate body, in India is
eligible to purchase through cheque or digital payments.

o The State Bank of India (SBI) has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds
through its 29 Authorized Branches.
 o The bonds are sold by the SBI in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10
lakh and Rs 1 crore.

o One can purchase these bonds only digitally or through cheques.

o The Electoral Bonds can be encashed by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank
account with the Authorized Bank.

o The Electoral Bond deposited by an eligible Political Party in its account is credited on the
same day.

o Electoral Bonds shall be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no
payment is being made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited
after expiry of the validity period.
o The bonds are available for purchase by any person (who is a citizen of India or
incorporated or established in India) for a period of ten days each in the months
of January, April, July and October as may be specified by the Central Government.
o A person being an individual can buy bonds, either singly or jointly with other
individuals.
o Donor’s name is not mentioned on the bond.

Benefits of Electoral Bond: Some element of transparency would be introduced in as much as

all donors declare in their accounts the amount of bonds that they have purchased, and all
parties declare the quantum of bonds that they have received.

According to government the system of Bonds will encourage political donations of clean money
from individuals, companies, HUF, religious groups, charities, etc

Issues with Electoral Bond:

 The bonds are not registered in the name of a specific person as a result donations through
electoral bonds continue to provide anonymity to donors.

 Non- disclosure to Election Commission: - While RoPA,1951 specifies that donations received
by political parties in sums greater than Rs 20,000 be disclosed to the tax authorities, the
Finance Bill,2017 explicitly provides an exemption from this clause to electoral bonds.

 Not enough secrecy: - Another concern raised by political parties against electoral bonds is
that the incumbent government can easily find out donor details using KYC details shared
with banks. This could make the instruments unpopular.

Suggestion:

 National Electoral Fund, as suggested by former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y Quraishi, to
which all donors can contribute is another plausible alternative.

 To bring all parties on a level playing field and to make private donations less relevant, state
funding of elections can also be explored.

 Election Commission has suggested that parties be made to disclose contributions received
in cash for smaller sums in case they exceed 20% of total funds raised. This can be
 considered.

The idea of simultaneous elections

The idea of simultaneous elections is not new to India. In 1951-52, the first general election to
the Lok Sabha was held simultaneously with all State Assemblies. This practice of simultaneous
elections continued till the general election of 1967.
This practice got disrupted due to premature dissolution of some State Legislative Assemblies in
1968. Lok Sabha itself dissolved prematurely in 1970.
As a result, the elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies are being held
separately.
In Recent times, the idea got support from President and Prime Minister. President Pranab
Mukherjee has endorsed the idea by mentioning it in his address to the joint session of the
parliament ahead of the budget session.
Advantages of simultaneous elections
 The cost of an election has two components – one, expenditure incurred by the Election
Commission and two, expenditure incurred by the political parties. A large number of
government employees and public buildings are diverted from their regular
responsibilities for election duties. Supporters of the simultaneous elections argue that it
will reduce election expenditure in terms of finance and reduce diversion of human
resources for election duties.
 Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into operation during election season. MCC is seen
as an obstacle to the government service delivery mechanism. Simultaneous elections
may reduce such disruption.
 During elections, political convenience takes precedence over public interest. To lure
voters, political parties concede to popular demands without any consideration to public
interest. Simultaneous elections reduce such opportunity for political parties.
 Simultaneous election promotes national perspective over the regional perspective. This
is important for the unity of the country.
Arguments against simultaneous elections
 Simultaneous elections may reduce the expenditure incurred by the Election
Commission. But there is no guarantee that expenditure of the political parties will
reduce. Political parties may spend entire fund at once rather than in phases.
 Center and States are equal and sovereign within their jurisdiction. Simultaneous
elections may reduce the importance of state elections. Thus it affects the concept of
federalism.
 Simultaneous elections can work only if governments last for a fixed tenure of five years
regardless of confidence of Parliament. It negates the concept of ‘no confidence motion’
– an important tool for legislative control over the executive.
 Simultaneous elections will relegate local issues or issues of state importance to the
background. This completely ignores the diversity of the country.
 Holding simultaneous election once in five years may also face logistical challenges. For
the free and fair conduct of the elections, security forces need to be deployed in large
numbers. Given the current strength of security personnel, this may be a challenging
task.

Framework for synchronisation of elections: The Commission recommended three

alternatives to synchronise elections in India.
 
  Option 1: The Commission recommended advancing or postponing election timings in
certain states, such that elections to all state assemblies and Lok Sabha may be held
together in 2019.  It noted that election of five states (Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal
Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, and Telangana) are due in 2019 along with Lok Sabha elections. 
It recommended the following changes to the election timings of other state assemblies:
 
 Assembly elections due before Lok Sabha elections: For four states (Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, and Rajasthan) elections are due in end of 2018 and early
January, 2019.  The term of these assemblies may be extended to synchronise it with Lok
Sabha elections, by amending the Constitution.  
 
 Assembly elections due immediately after Lok Sabha elections: If there is political
consensus, elections to four assemblies (Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Delhi)
can be held with Lok Sabha elections, if the states voluntarily dissolve their assemblies
earlier, or by operation of law. 
 
 Assembly elections in remaining states: For the remaining 16 states and Puducherry,
elections may be conducted towards the end of 2021.  The term of these assemblies will
be 30 months or till June 2024, whichever is earlier.  This will require a constitutional
amendment since the terms of different assemblies will either need to be curtailed or
extended. 
 
Thereafter, elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies may be held together from 2024.