DIALOGUES-Fourth Critical Studies -Election, Insurrection

Abstract

Multi-party democracy is considered as sine qua non for engendering peace and stability in any country in the contemporary world. But, democracy means different things to different people: a method, a process, a system, an ideology, a platform for power contestation and not the least a class struggle. The de-colonization of the erstwhile colonies of Europe in Asia and Africa, like India, after the World War II has privileged liberal democracy globally as the most credible basis of governmental legitimacy. But, the ecology of democracy in India is different from that existing in the nations of the West. After India’s de-colonization, the State happened to be the main controller of national resources and their ultimate disperser. Thus, politics turned into a zero-sum game. This perhaps gave social exclusion based on caste-based, religion-based or ethnicity-based identities a new dimension. This also led to newer political marginalization, human rights violation, corruption and mismanagement. It appeared to caricature elections, promote irreconcilable conflicts and make peace unattainable in some cases.

There is little point in holding elections, which are, in any case, expensive operations, if the outcome seems to be dubious. Therefore, it becomes the onus of the electoral body to ensure the legitimacy of the processes for which it is responsible. This can be ensured if the election management is founded on a few basic principles of independence, impartiality, integrity, transparency and efficiency. These principles form the basis of electoral administration and are essential to ensure both the appearance and the real integrity of the electoral process. These principles are usually considered as the ethical framework for conducting elections. In short, every election’s objective is a flawless election process with unquestioned results. Critical to ensuring accurate results and trusted processes is the efficiency and effectiveness of the logistics operations. The Election Commission of India has of late attached additional and renewed importance to logistics in order to improve the storage, distribution, tracking and retrieval of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials. One of its major challenges is preparing election officials and poll workers for the pressures of real-time operations. In 2004 Lok Sabha polls, there were 687402 polling stations across the country and the state exchequer had to spend at least Rs.1300 crore. Even in the State Assembly polls in 2011, there were 54016 polling stations in Tamil Nadu, 20758 in Kerala, 23813 in Assam, 51919 in West Bengal and 851 in Puducherry.

Based on an assessment of the ground situation, thousands of the Central Police Forces and State Armed Police are drawn from other States for deployment during the elections. These security forces are used generally for safeguarding the polling stations, the electors, poll-material and the polling personnel. Besides, these forces will be used for securing the strong rooms where the EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) are stored pending counting and for securing the counting centres. The Commission has been issuing instructions from time to time with regard to the advance preventive measures to be taken by the District Magistrates and Police authorities to maintain law and order to create an atmosphere conducive for conduct of free and fair elections. The Commission nowadays constantly monitors the ground situation closely and takes appropriate measures to ensure peaceful, free and fair polls. Moreover, the Commission now deploys thousands of General Observers to ensure smooth conduct of elections. The Observers are asked to keep a close watch on every stage of the electoral process to ensure free and fair elections. In addition, the Election Commission now appoints hundreds of Expenditure Observers and Assistant Expenditure Observers who exclusively monitor the election expenditure of the contesting candidates. In fact, that is not all. The Election Commission, of late, have started deploying Micro-observers to observe the poll proceedings in the polling stations on the poll day in selected critical polling stations. These Micro-Observers observe the proceedings at the polling stations on the poll day right from the mock poll to the completion of poll and the process of sealing of EVMs and other documents to ensure that all instructions of the Commission are complied with by the Polling Parties and the Polling Agents. These Micro-Observers work directly under the control and supervision of the General Observer. Now, all critical events are video-graphed. District Election Officers arrange video and digital cameras and camera teams for the purpose. The events for videography include filing of nomination, scrutiny thereof and allotment of symbols, First Level Checking, preparations and storage of Electronic Voting Machines, important public meetings, processions etc. during campaign, process of dispatching of postal ballot papers, polling process in identified vulnerable polling stations, storage of polled EVMs, counting of votes etc. Digital cameras are also deployed inside polling booths wherever needed and inside all counting centres. The Election Commission has also introduced a complaint redressal mechanism based on website and call centre. The number of call centre is a toll free number.

This entire logistics of elections in India has assumed an interesting and quite elaborate character over the years as the number of voters has gone up exponentially between 1952 and 2011. But, has it also been able to ensure a democratic space, inculcate a culture of representative democracy, bring an end to social exclusion, marginalization of the dalits, minorities, women and indigenous people and ensure peace and stability in the country? The proposed paper would like to interrogate the logistics of elections in India from these critical perspectives.

Bionote

Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury , member, CRG is Professor, Department of Political Science and Director, Centre for Nepal Studies at the Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. His areas of interest include South Asian studies, in particular, politics of globalisation, democracy, development, displacement, human rights and justice in South Asia. He is among the few experts on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that India has. He is a regular contributor to academic journals, periodicals, dailies, news channels and portals. His recent publications include: Indian Autonomies: Key Words and Key Texts, (co-edited with Ranabir Samaddar and Samir Kumar Das), Sampark, Kolkata, 2005, and Internal Displacement in South Asia: The Relevance of UN’s Guiding Principles, (co-edited with Paula Banerjee and Samir Kumar Das), Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2005.