When the Constituent Assembly discussed Article 289 of the draft Constitution (corresponding Article 324 of the Constitution) dealing with the setting up of the Election Commission of India on June 15 and 16, 1949, such a proposal never came up.

Therefore, the said recommendation of the Kovind Commission and the in-principle acceptance of it by the Union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a clear violation of the legislative intent of the Constituent Assembly.

Ambedkar never envisaged ‘One Nation, One Election’ idea

It is worthwhile to go through the discussions that took place in the Constituent Assembly on June 15, 1949 after Dr B.R. Ambedkar moved Article 289 which, among others, provided that the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of all elections to the Parliament and to the legislature of every state would be vested in a body outside the Executive to be called the Election Commission.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar was deeply mindful of the situation when a bye-election might take place at any time.

He then stated that the Election Commission would be a permanent body with one man called the Chief Election Commissioner with a skeleton machinery at his disposal to conduct elections which he said “will generally take place at the end of five years”.

But he was deeply mindful of the situation when a bye-election might take place at any time, therefore he proceeded to add, “The assembly may be dissolved before its period of five years has expired. Consequently, the electoral rolls will have to be kept up to date all the time so that the new election may take place without any difficulty.

“It was, therefore, felt that having regard to these exigencies, it would be sufficient if there was permanently in session one officer to be called the Chief Election Commissioner, while when the elections are coming up, the President may further add to the machinery by appointing other members to the Election Commission.”

Quite clearly, Dr Ambedkar’s utterances in the Constituent Assembly that elections would generally take place at the end of five years and there would be the necessity of conducting another election within the five-year time frame in case an assembly got dissolved underlined his intent that in India simultaneous elections to assemblies could not be prescribed by the Constitution.

Shibbon Lala Saxena’s stand in the Constituent Assembly

Another distinguished member of the Constituent Assembly Shibbon Lal Saxena, while participating in the discussion on Article 289, referred to the point made by Dr Ambedkar that the Election Commission might not have adequate work after the conduct of elections and so it should have only Chief Election Commissioner and other commissioners would be appointed, if required, prior to the announcement of election schedules.

Saxena went on to say, “In our Constitution, all the elections will not synchronise but they will be at varying times in accordance with the vote of no-confidence passed in various legislatures and the consequent dissolution of the legislatures.”

Even before he articulated those thoughts he stated, “Our Constitution does not provide for a fixed four-year cycle like the one in the United States of America. The elections will probably be almost always going on in some province or the other.”

While noting that India would have about thirty provinces after the integration of states into the Indian Union he made it very clear that “our Constitution provides for the dissolution of the legislature when a non-confidence is passed” and presciently remarked, “So it is quite possible that the elections to the various legislatures in the province and the Centre will not be all concurrent.”

He forcefully observed, “Every time some election or other will be taking place somewhere.” Then he very prophetically said, “It may not be so in the very beginning or in the very first five or ten years. But after ten or twelve years, at every moment some elections in some province will be going on.”

“Therefore,” he said, “it will be far more economical and useful if a permanent Election Commission is appointed— not only the Chief Election Commissioner but three or five members of the commission who should be permanent and who should conduct the elections.”

He dispelled the notion that the Election Commission would be deficient in terms of work because, according to him, frequent elections would be conducted taking into account the exigencies of the situation that would arise following the premature dissolution of legislatures after the fall of the governments, among others, on the basis of passage of no-confidence motions against them.

Shibban Lal Saxena’s assertion in 1949 that “in our Constitution, all the elections will not synchronise” clearly reflected the legislative intent of the Constituent Assembly for not conducting elections simultaneously.

Shibban Lal Saxena’s assertion in 1949 that “in our Constitution all the elections will not synchronise” clearly reflected the legislative intent of the Constituent Assembly for not conducting elections, as accepted by Modi regime, simultaneously for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

It corresponded to the aforementioned statement of Dr Ambedkar who while stating that elections “will generally take place at the end of five years” was deeply conscious of the fact that a legislature might get dissolved before its mandated period of five years and it would necessitate an election.

R.K. Sidhwa’s stand

Another prominent member, R.K. Sidhwa, while speaking on the discussion on the Election Commission in the Constituent Assembly said, “We shall have now about 4,000 members in all the provinces and there will be bye-elections. Surely, every month there will be two or three elections— some will die, some will be promoted to high offices— some will go here and there.”

“In this Constituent Assembly,” he said, “during the short period we have had a number of bye-elections although we had nothing to do with them, but in the places from which they have come there have been a number of elections.”

He, therefore, stated that apart from necessity and fairness, the Election Commission should function to prepare a just electoral roll which often gets vitiated by those who put names in it in connivance with the Executive.

Describing the electoral roll as the principal thing in an election he appealed for establishing an impartial and independent Election Commission to deal with the situation necessitating the organisation of multiple elections.

The Election Commission should function to prepare a just electoral roll which often gets vitiated by those who put names in it in connivance with the Executive.

He did not pay heed to those who flagged that more expenses would be incurred for that purpose and pleaded for an Election Commission empowered to conduct elections with impartiality, fairness and integrity.

Culture of accountability getting eroded

Therefore, the Modi-led cabinet’s decision to accept in principle the recommendation of the Kovind Commission centered around the ‘One Nation, One Election’ scheme negates the legislative intent of the Constituent Assembly and the vision of Dr B.R. Ambedkar.

Such a recommendation is contrary to the ethos of parliamentary democracy defined in terms of the accountability of the government to the legislature. The sooner that recommendation is abandoned, the better it would be for the cause of upholding the ideal of accountability which has been severely eroded during the last ten years.

The author was Press Secretary to President of India late KR Narayanan.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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The outgoing home minister (#AmitShah) has been calling up DMs/Collectors. So far he has spoken to 150 of them. This is blatant and brazen intimidation, showing how desperate the BJP is: #JairamRamesh https://t.co/ywYJof6mHW

— National Herald (@NH_India) June 1, 2024

“You cannot spread a rumour and bring everyone under a cloud of suspicion,” the CEC said in response on Monday. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday “dared the opposition to share evidence of allegations that returning officers and district magistrates were influenced to vitiate the poll process so the panel could take action against them.” The opposition should also tell the Commission about those trying to influence the poll process before the counting of votes begins, Mr. Kumar said at a press conference. He was flanked by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S.S. Sandhu.

The Commission had made preparations to deal with any attempt to influence the poll process but these allegations have come from within the country itself, he said in an apparent dig at the opposition. Taking exception to allegations that district magistrates were being influenced, the CEC said, “Those levelling allegations should say which DM was influenced and we will punish them. They should tell us before the counting process begins.”

Demands by multi-party delegation met

Meanwhile, the ECI had accepted all the demands made by the multi-party delegation that met the panel on Sunday, and asserted that the issues raised by them were part of the election process going on for seven decades.”Some demands were made by a multi-party delegation. We have agreed to all the demands,” Mr. Kumar said, indicating that most of the issues raised by the multi-party delegation were part of election manuals.

“This process has been going on for 70 years… We have instructed every RO/ARO. These are our orders and they are no joke… Everyone has been instructed to follow the handbook/manuals,” Mr. Kumar said. Mr. Kumar admitted that the Election Commission had failed to counter the mischievous narratives spread during the poll process.

Concerns on timing of counting postal ballots

The muddying of waters by executive diktat on counting of postal ballots has raised more suspicions and concerns. Till the 2019 LS elections, according to the Conduct of Elections Manual and its rules and procedures, the counting of postal ballots was taken up first and EVM counting began 30 minutes after that. And all postal ballots had to be counted before the EVM counting could be completed.

Hence, just ahead of the counting of votes in the 18^th Lok Sabha elections on June 4, the INDIA bloc on Sunday asked the Election Commission to issue directions to Returning Officers complete the counting of postal ballots before finalising the EVM counting.

The Opposition’s concern stems from a change in the EC’s guidelines in 2019 for counting of postal ballots. Till the 2019 LS elections, the counting of postal ballots was taken up first and EVM counting began 30 minutes after that. And all postal ballots had to be counted before the EVM counting could be completed.

“Under no circumstances, should the results of all the rounds of the EVM counting be announced before finalising the postal ballot counting,” stated the EC’s Handbook for Counting Agents in February 2019. Now, the postal ballot counting starts 30 minutes before the EVM counting, but does not have to be completed before the EVMs.

However, soon after the 2019 elections, the EC decided to tweak the guidelines as the number of postal ballots had gone up, especially after the introduction of the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), and the mandatory counting of VVPAT slips of five randomly selected polling stations per Assembly constituency or Assembly segment.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal explained this issue in an interview that he released on ‘X’ on the afternoon of Saturday, June 1.

My Press Conference today
Full Video link https://t.co/GKgnVxCxXF pic.twitter.com/rZPRxu4ULH

— Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) June 1, 2024

In directions to all Chief Electoral Officers on May 18, 2019, the EC withdrew its earlier guideline that the penultimate round of EVM counting should be taken up only after postal ballots counting is complete. Instead, it said, the EVM counting “can go on irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting”. Once the EVM counting is complete, the VVPAT slips can be counted. It also revised the rule for mandatory re-counting of postal ballots. Earlier, postal ballots were recounted if the margin of victory was less than the total number of postal ballots. Now, the postal ballots that are rejected as invalid during counting would be re-verified if the margin is less than the number of such ballots.

While a total of 22.71 lakh postal ballots were received during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections or 0.37% of the total 60.76 crore valid votes, the number of postal ballots is expected to be higher this time. Apart from service voters like defence forces, who are deployed outside their home states, the EC in October 2019 introduced postal ballots for essential service workers, those above 80 years of age and persons with disabilities. Since then, the age limit has been increased to 85 years for seniors and Covid-19 patients have been included in the list of those eligible for postal ballots.

As the guidelines stand today, as per the 2023 Handbook for Counting Agents, “After 30 minutes of commencement of postal ballot counting, the EVM counting can start and continue irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting. Once the EVM counting is completed, the VVPAT slip counting can also start.”

With the number of postal ballots expected to increase, the Opposition parties have expressed concern over the counting process. In their letter to the EC, they pointed out that the winning margin in the 2020 Bihar elections was 12,700 votes for the state, while the number of postal ballots was 52,000. “In fact, there was a huge outcry in Bihar as it was the first election (which was conducted after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic) where the postal ballots were counted at the end of the counting of EVM votes,” the INDIA parties said.

They asked the EC to withdraw the May 2019 letter and to issue directions in consonance with Rule 54A of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, which says “the returning officer shall first deal with the postal ballot papers…”

Not to be left behind, the BJP knocks on EC’s door against “coordinated bid to undermine poll process”

The BJP delegation also sought a “public statement affirming the integrity of the electoral process and warning against any attempts to disrupt the democratic process”.

Not to be outdone, the ruling BJP, under fire from various sections for its imposition on the ECI, also met the ECI on Sunday. Within hours of the INDIA bloc delegation meeting the Election Commission Sunday, the BJP approached the poll panel, complaining about “grave and coordinated attempts by opposition parties, led by the Indian National Congress, and certain motivated civil society groups to undermine the integrity of the ongoing electoral process”.

“These efforts are a direct attack on our democratic institutions and pose significant risks to public order and trust in the electoral system,” the ruling party said.

Submitting a petition, this delegation comprising Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, accompanied by party leader Om Pathak, urged the EC to “take cognizance of the systematic attempts to undermine the electoral process and take stringent action against those responsible”. The delegation also sought a “public statement affirming the integrity of the electoral process and warning against any attempts to disrupt the democratic process”.

“The decisive mandates given by the Indian electorate in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, which brought the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power, have been repeatedly challenged by the opposition through baseless allegations and actions,” the petition said.

“Despite clear verdicts from the people, the opposition has resorted to a series of unfounded claims aimed at discrediting the election process. Opposition parties and their affiliated civil societies have systematically orchestrated campaigns over the past several years to target the judiciary and the Election Commission of India (ECI),” it said. “The pattern is clear: first, target the institutions; then, the election process; and if court verdicts do not favour them, target the judicial verdicts.”

The BJP urged the EC to “ensure the safety and security of the electoral process during the counting and announcement of results, including enhanced monitoring and security measures to prevent any attempts at violence or unrest”.

After meeting the EC, Goyal told reporters, “I think the mandate given by the people of India both in 2014 and 2019, and the likely mandate of the 2024 general elections, expected on June 4, has unnerved the opposition parties and certain non-governmental organisations, so-called civil society groups, who cannot accept a popular leader of the masses who has delivered for the well-being of 1.4 billion Indians.”

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मीडिया रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक, आयोग ने यह फैसला 23 सितंबर को हुई एक मीटिंग के बाद लिया है। मीटिंग से मिले एक आंतरिक पत्र में लिखा है, “यह माना जाता है कि मैनिफेस्टो ही चुनावी वादों का एक रूप है। जिन्हें पूरा करने के लिए उसी स्तर के धन की भी जरूरत होती है। वोटर्स का विश्वास चुनावी वादों पर ही टिका होता है इसलिए उन्हें पूरा किया जाना जरूरी है।” बता दें कि पंजाब में 2012 के चुनावों में शिरोमणि अकाली दल ने 12वीं कक्षा के स्टूडेंट्स को लेपटॉप देने का वादा किया था, लेकिन बाद में 1.25 लाख करोड़ का कर्ज होने के कारण पार्टी इससे मुकर गई थी।

23 अक्टूबर को हुई मीटिंग के बाद भारत के मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त डॉ नसीम जैदी ने कहा था कि राजनीतिक दलों के चुनाव घोषणा पत्रों पर आयोग की नजर है। इससे कोई फर्क नहीं पड़ता कि घोषणा पत्र आचार संहिता लागू होने के बाद जारी होते हैं या पहले। पुलिस और प्रशासन के अधिकारियों की बैठक के दौरान मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त की अध्यक्षता में यहां आई निर्वाचन आयोग की टीम ने इस बात पर भी चिंता जताई कि पंजाब में 20 हजार से अधिक भगोड़े होना चिंता की बात है। चुनाव शांतिपूर्वक और निष्पक्ष तरीके से कराने के लिए पुलिस प्रशासन को सबसे पहले इन्हें तलाशकर जल्द से जल्द सलाखों के पीछे करना होगा।

Courtesy: National Dastak
 

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From one of India’s pioneering Information Commissioners about a crudely aspiring one. Gandhi was part of a countrywide movement to ensure due application of the Right to Information Act, a law that was finally enacted in 2005 after years of struggle by individuals and movements devoted to transparency and accountability. Gandhi brought verge and vigour to the post. Today he writes in perturbation to the Cabinet Secretary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the rumours that BS Bassi, the controversial police commissioner of Delhi is angling for the post. The Cabinet Secretary, PK Mishra has been a loyal aide of Modi since 2001-2002.

Text of Shailesh Gandhi’s Open Letter

February 18, 2016
To,
Mr. PK Sinha, Cabinet Secretary,
Government of India.

There are news reports that Mr. Bassi is likely to be made an Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission. This would be a travesty of the process. There should be a transparent process for selecting an Information Commissioner in line with the spirit of the Right to Information Act.

I concede that the final selection is a political decision as per the Act, but there should be a transparent process for short-listing the panel to be presented to the selection committee. Not doing this is doing great harm to the RTI Act.

At this particular moment when Mr. Bassi appears to have acquiesced to an open subversion of two of the estates of our nation, his choice would be very unfortunate. By his collusive inaction journalists were attacked and the sanctity and respect for the judicial system and the courts was diminished. Even when a citizen does this, it is unacceptable.

From a public servant charged to uphold the law, it deserves the strongest condemnation. Julio Ribeiro has stated with sadness “I would have arrested the lawyers from their homes at night. I would never condone such acts,“ and “I always had a good opinion about Mr Bassi. Unfortunately, circumstances have changed my opinion about him. He is angling for a post-retirement job. “

If the government now makes him an Information Commissioner it would be a sad day for democracy, and people will believe that the denigration of the two estates of governance had the approval of the government. I have faith that this will not be true.

Please convey this to the Prime Minister.
Best regards
Shailesh Gandhi
 

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