Election - festival of democracy.
Father of electoral reforms - T.N. Seshan.
Stakeholders of election:
- Voters
- Candidates - Political parties
- Election commission of India / State Election Commission (Which conducts Panchayat election and Municipal election)
- Security forces
Representation of People Act (RP Act) 1950, 1951 - Provides a legal framework to conduct elections in India.
Election Commission of India - formed on Jan 25, 1950.
- It is a constitutional body that administers 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.
- It consists of 2 Election Commissioners and 1 Chief Election Commissioner.
- The 61st Amendment Act of the constitution of India lowered the voting age of elections to the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies of States from 21 years to 18 years.
- Election Commissioner, T.N.Seshan (1990-96), introduced the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in Kerala.
- He made photo identification mandatory for the electoral process.
- A special court for politicians was established to investigate corruption by politicians. (All criminal records of politicians should be revealed during the election).
Political parties:
- India is a multi-party system (the U.S follows a two-party system - Democratic and Republic).
- According to Article 19(1) (c) of the Constitution of India, guarantees all its citizens the right “to form associations, or unions or Co-Operative Societies.” - led to the increase of political parties.
- India categorizes political parties as National and Regional parties.
- Political parties are further divided into registered and recognized political parties based on the poll performance and the number of seats acquired by the party.
- All political parties in India are registered political parties. All registered parties are not recognized political parties.
- Reforms within political parties were also introduced (internal democracy) to avoid a leadership crisis in a political party. E.g., leadership crisis in the Indian National Congress.
State Funding of Election:
- It means that government gives funds to political parties or candidates for contesting elections.
- It is a measure to avoid corruption in the electoral process.
Recommendations by various committees on state funding of election:
- Indrajit Gupta Committee on State Election Funding 1998: recommended that funds be given to registered national and state parties only and in-kind only.
- Law Commission Report on Electoral Reforms 1999: recommended the same as above but advocated strong regulatory framework like internal elections, accounting framework.
- 2nd ARC 2008: not recommended funding.
Advantages of state funding of election:
- Provides a level playing field for parties - New and smaller parties can compete with existing and the ruling party.
- Demand internal democracy - no seats should be allotted based on any background, some number of seats should be given to women and economically weaker sections, etc.
- It reduces dependency on corporate/private companies for funding.
Disadvantages of state funding of election:
- It encourages non-serious candidates.
- May become organs of state.
- It will not stop parties to get additional funds from private companies. Donations from both the government and corporate companies lead to excess money for a political party which lead to corruption.
View of Election Commission of India:
It did not recommend State Funding of Election (as long as funds from corporates are not regulated).
Way forward:
- State Funding is a natural and necessary cost of democracy.
- It is recommended that the government can address the invested money from the corporates (with intention) and reduce corruption.
- It can create transparency in the electoral process.
