CORRUPT PRACTICE IN INDIA DURING ELECTION

Submitted by
R HARSHAD 17040142060

V. KIRUBANANDHAN 17040142034

SUBMITTED TO:

PROF. Dr. Bhoomanna Reddy

ALLIANCE SCHOOL OF LAW,

ALLIANCE UNIVERSITY
INTRODUCTION

Elections are considered to be a process to achieve democracy and is an indispensable element in

the establishment and continuation of any democracy. India is having a Constitution that
guarantees a democratic republic to its citizens. The Constitution of India gives a scheme of
democratic bodies/posts as well as an independent constitutional authority bestowed with the
function of conduct of free and fair elections, namely the Election Commission. Free and fair
election is an indispensable part of the Indian democracy. Corrupt practices and offences related
to election are those which interfere in the free exercise of right to vote and includes bribery,
undue influence etc. It is very essential for us to study and understand about electoral offences,
penalties and disqualification. This paper therefore deals with various provisions under the
Representation of People’s Act, 1951 and the Indian Penal Code which discusses electoral
offences. Further, the distinctions between electoral offences and corrupt practices are also
studied.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

Why is India not able to achieve the aim of free and fair election even after having a well-
established mechanism working towards them is it due to the rigging of poll booths, muscle
power or any other hindrances present in the process which needs to be overcome?

SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH

The research is limited to the problems faced by the Indian electoral system the laws associated
with the elections.

OBJECTIVES
i. To study about corrupt practices in elections.
ii. To trace out problems face by the Indian electoral system
iii. To suggest measures to free, fair and transparent elections

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HYPOTHESIS

In India general election was first held in 1951, and still we don't have a free and fair election
resulting in corruption in elections. The possibility of changing this situation by bringing new
amendments or providing suggestions for election commission is nugatory.

LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Punishing personal and electoral corruption: Experimental evidence from India

By Simon Weschle May 9, 2016.

2. Fighting corruption or elections? The politics of anti-corruption policies in India: A

subnational study.
By Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2015.

3. Institutions, Democracy and ‘Corruption’ in India: Examining Potency and Performance:

By Shibashis Chatterjee and Sreya Maitra Roychoudhury, 13 August 2013.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Doctrinal method of Research will be applied in this study. Data for the present study will be
collected through primary (Books) and secondary (Online) sources. The research will be focused
on statutes, case laws and other legal sources and will also make use of various articles
associated with the subject-matter.

Free and Fair Election

Free and Fair‘ in matters of election denotes that no one, under the electoral process, is in
bondage of another, having his personal rights, social and political liberty, free thinking and
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choice subjected to a legal discipline. This concept includes even preliminary stages to election
such as delimitation of constituencies, preparation, revision or amendment of electoral rolls and
many others. While exercising his right to vote one is not under any influence of party discipline,
religion, caste, creed, sex, language and also one is not under any corrupt practices and so on.
Thus, free and fair election are the foundation of democratic form of government. In order to
ensure the purity in the elections the following essential conditions must be fulfilled:
i. The conduct of elections must be assigned to an independent authority who can
function impartially and who is free from external pressures from the party in power or
executive of the day. There should not be any encroachment by government or other
agency in exercise of his powers and duties assigned to him under law. The conduct of
election should be left unhindered in the hands of the election machinery.
ii. There must be co-operation between the wings of government and citizenry, each of them
discharging the duties assigned to them by law. Any government official or any civil
authority must not exercise a power unless exercise of it is authorized by some specific
rule of law and the people should obey the law.
iii. There must be proper security in the threat areas in order to make the people believe in
the free and fair election without the outside pressure of others. In places of threat the
Election Commission should make the people to believe in the security provided so that
they can come forward and cast their vote.

In Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain1, it was observed by Justice HR Khanna that, the
principle of free and fair election is an essential postulate of democracy which in turn is a part of
the basic structure of the constitution of India. Khanna, J. further observed, ―Democracy can
indeed function only upon faith that elections are free and fair and not rigged and
manipulated, that they are effective instruments of ascertaining popular will both in reality and
form and are not mere rituals calculated to generate illusion of defense to mass opinion.

Role of Election Commission

In order to make sure free and fair election, the Constitution provides for the establishment of
an independent committee armed with wide powers. Under article 324 superintendence,
direction and control of elections are vested in a Chief Election Commissioner and such

1
AIR 975 SC 2299

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number of Election Commissioners as the President may fix. The Supreme Court was keen on
taking a balancing approach during this regard. Though the Court recognized the proper of the
Commission to exercise all kinds of powers—legislative, executive, judicial—safeguards for
avoiding excess and abuse of powers have also been ensured. The Constitution contemplates a
free and truthful election and vests comprehensive responsibilities of supervising, direction
and management of the conduct of elections within the commission. This responsibility might
cowl powers, duties and functions of the many kinds, body or different, betting on the
circumstances. Two limitations a minimum of are arranged on its comprehensive character
within the exercise therefrom. Firstly, once Parliament or any State legislative assembly has
created valid law about or in reference to elections, the Commission shall act in conformity
with, not in violation of such provisions however wherever such law is silent article 324 could
be a reservoir of power to act for the declared purpose of, not single from, pushing forward a
free and truthful election with expedition. Secondly, the Commission shall be accountable to
the rule of law, act factual and be amenable to the norms of natural justice in up to now as
correspondence to such canons can moderately and realistically be needed of it as fair play
during action in a necessary space of the constitutional order, viz., elections. Fairness will
impart Associate in nursing obligation to visualize that no wrong-doer candidate advantages
by his own wrong.

CORRUPT PRACTICES IN ELECTION:

In the Representation of People act, 1951 the Section 2(c) simply says that corrupt practices
means any of the practices specified in section 123 of the Act. Some of them are like bribery,
appeal on the ground of religion, race, caste, community or language, undue influence.

Mostly in some areas it’s the money which decides the results 2. The overspreading of money
in election ultimately influences the results and therefore, in order to make the candidate win,
there is distribution of money all over the places in order to make the candidate win the
election. Voters may be rewarded for their voting to a particular candidate or for not favoring
him. The supporters of the candidate distribute money or they bribe the voters by giving

2
Report on the Forth General Elections (Vol. I), Election Commission of India, pp. 106-7; Elections, Electoral
Mechanism and Behaviour in India, Verinder Grover (Ed. 1985), at 699, 717.

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certain amount of money. Any gratification made with intent to pollute the purity of elections
may cover within the corrupt practice of bribery under sub section (1) of section 123 of the
Representation of people act, 1951. There may also be appeal on grounds of caste, race,
community or religion like in the case of S.R. Bommai v. Union of India 3 the Supreme Court
in this context laid that introduction of religion into politics is not merely in negation of
constitutional mandate but also a positive violation of constitutional obligation and duty.

During election time the election law permits freedom of criticism of political nature at the
time of election and it is in the interest of democracy that such criticism should be allowed.
But that doesn’t allow false statements and speeches. There are certain election booths which
are still under the threat or under the influence of the ruling party which totally have influence
over it. They threat the voters and the voters under the threat of life vote the certain candidate.
In the states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, parts of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh,
even well-equipped private army control the poll on the behalf of the vested interests.4

Research Questions

1. Whether the election commission has acted and used their power to their fullest to
introduce such electoral reforms which can make the election process free from
ambiguities and infirmities?

When it comes to regulations or electoral reforms, the election commission tries their best to
come up with a free and fair election. But still there are few things which comes under the power
of the election commission which can be implemented to make the election process free from
ambiguities and infirmities.
● Remove criminals from politics:

3
AIR 1994 SC 1918.
4
None of us can now deny that elections have contributed to solving our unemployment problem in a unique manner—by
bringing into being a professional class of booth captures.‖—Harsh Sethi, Notes on Electoral Violence, SEMINAR, 368
(April, 1990), p. 41.

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For upholding the highest traditions of probity and morality in public life, any person against
whom charges have been framed by a Court of Law of offences punishable for two years or more
should not be allowed to contest elections. In particular, any candidate charged with serious
charges like murder, attempt to murder, rape, kidnapping, extortion, etc. should be banned from
contesting any elections.
● Declaration of sources of income by candidates:
Along with the declaration of their assets and liabilities candidates should also declare their
income and sources of income at the time of nominations.
● Action against candidates who fail to file their election expenses:
Any candidate who fails to file their election expenses within the given time should face penalty,
including not being allowed to take oath until they fulfill this obligation.
● Strict penalties against those involved in electoral malpractices:
The relevant sections of the Representation of People Act (RPA) pertaining to electoral
malpractices need to be amended and stricter penalties imposed. Electoral malpractices should be
declared criminal offenses carrying a sentence of two years or more.

2. How does corruption thrive in elections?

One of the main reasons of corruption in elections today is the lure of power which haunts the
politicians so much that they feel no qualms of conscience in adopting any underhand method to
come out successful. In India also the record of the various political parties is not clean.
Corruption thrives in elections because those in the field play on the psychology of the
electorate. The voters are swayed by the tall promises of the candidates to whose machinations
they fall an easy prey. They are also susceptible to fall an easy prey to the adulations of the
politicians due to their illiteracy.

CONCLUSION

The fundamental features of Indian democracy are parliamentary form of government, rule of
law, free, fair and periodical elections, secular democracy, civil liberties, judicial review, unity
and integrity of the nation. Thus, the concept of democracy as visualized by the Constitution

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presupposes the perseverance of these ideals by the elected representatives of the people in
Parliament and State Legislatures. But the political parties in our country have not risen to the
expectations of the people. They have shaken the people‘s confidence in parliamentary
democracy just for their selfish ends. In our multi-party system, it seems that no single party is
likely to secure a majority in Parliament. The Anti-defection law permits split and merger of
political parties and there is no provision in the Constitution which bars the legislators from
frequently asserting their no-confidence against the government.
Criminalization of politics is the greatest dangerous factor of the present political system. A large
number of criminals have acquired political positions in the country and their number is
increasing. The nexus between criminal gangs, police, bureaucracy, politicians and businessmen
has been exposed. It is now an established fact that criminalization of politics and corruption in
high levels is destroying the edifice of our parliamentary democracy. The black money earned by
notorious trades is misused to develop a network of muscle power to be used by politicians
during elections for violence, booth capturing, rigging; intimidating voters and even killing rival
candidates.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

STATUTES
 The Representation of the people act, 1951

BOOKS
 Corrupt Practices in Elections: A study under the Representation Act, 1951 by Hans Raj
Jhingta, 2nd January, 2003.
 Punishing personal and electoral corruption: Experimental evidence from India
By Simon Weschle May 9, 2016.
 Institutions, Democracy and ‘Corruption’ in India: Examining Potency and
Performance:
By Shibashis Chatterjee and Sreya Maitra Roychoudhury, 13 August 2013.

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WEBLIOGRAPHY
 https://www.latestlaws.com/articles/electoral-offences-and-power-of-election-
commission-of-india-to-register-criminal-complaints-by-aniket-sachan/
 https://ijlpp.com/electoral-disqualifications-and-corrupt-practices/
 https://www.google.com/amp/s/blog.ipleaders.in/critical-analysis-electoral-offences-
india/amp/