NEW DELHI, Oct 25: Enhanced voting percentage, near-zero repoll, record seizures and decline in electoral violence — these were the major achievements which improved the Election Commission’s reputation in the year 2023.
The recent assembly polls in five states are an indicator of how “silent reforms” have changed the way the elections are being held and supervised, officials said.
The biggest confidence booster for the poll panel was the Left Wing Extremism-hit areas in Chhattisgarh. In a first since Independence, the polling stations in 126 Naxal-affected villages were set up in Chhattisgarh.
These changes were put in place in the form of structural, technological, administrative, enforcement effectiveness and capacity building reforms launched by the Election Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.
The changes were witnessed over the last 11 assembly elections to the states of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, the officials pointed out.
In these elections, there was “not a single” complaint against the electronic voting machines (EVMs). Even in cases where the margin of victory was less than 500 votes, the candidates accepted the results without demanding a recount, the officials said.
The last 11 assembly polls were held with very little incidents of violence with Tripura registering peaceful polls “for the first time” with no repoll. The same was the case with Nagaland.
As the poll panel made a fresh push to curtail the use of money power to induce the voters, the enforcement agencies made record seizures of over Rs 3,000 crore in the past 11 assembly elections.
There was an over 10-fold increase in seizures from the previous elections.
The polls also saw a higher voter turnout in seven out of 11 states. On an aggregate basis, the voting percentage in 11 states was 73.41 per cent. As many as 126 polling stations in the LWE areas in Chhattisgarh recorded over 72 per cent voter turnout.
The four qualifying dates notified after amendments to election laws in December 2022 saw nearly 22 lakh young voters being able to exercise their franchise.
Besides, there was less use of derogatory language and a few cases of defacement of public property during campaigns, the officials said.
The Election Commission made judicious use of model code notices to the parties and the candidates for a long-term impact.
There were “absolutely zero negative observations” from the courts as against sharp comments in the past. Rather the courts dismissed cases at the admission stages itself.
As part of its “roll to poll” strategy, the EC focused efforts to include all persons with disabilities (PwD), transgenders, particularly vulnerable tribal groups to bring them to the polling booths.
Home voting facility was provided to the elderly and PwD, while women were encouraged to come out for voting.
The EC also used a revamped system of postal ballots, including amendment of rule mandating employees on election duties to cast vote at the facilitation centre.
This is being seen as a reform to stop unionisation and bargaining power of the government employees after the polls, especially in cases where the old pension scheme provides a ready rallying point to demand favours in lieu of votes.
The completion of Assam delimitation exercise in record time, otherwise pending for decades due to law and order issue, was another important milestone for the poll panel.
The EC also came up with a remote voting machine for the migrant voters, but the initiative could not be started due to lack of consensus among the parties.
In a first of its kind initiative and in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission organised a conference of all state chief electoral officers at Mussoorie’s Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.
The conference focused on discussions on critical themes for smooth and successful conduct of the forthcoming elections. (PTI)
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