Explained | Election Commission: The underrated, and overworked, poll panel

As the seventh largest and the second most populous country preps for the biggest democratic process – the Lok Sabha elections – let us place into perspective what goes in making this process possible, feasible and secure.

Between April 11 and May 19, over 90 crore people are expected to cast their vote across 10 lakh booths in 543 seats spread over 33 lakh square kilometres. As expansive as the scale is, it requires months of meticulous planning and extraordinary management skills.

In addition, the diversity, divide along caste and communal lines and threat from insurgency and terrorism in certain areas make the logistics all the more challenging.

For instance, between April 11 and May 23, India will be moving more than 2.5 lakh central forces personnel on over 25 helicopters, over 500 trains, 17,500 vehicles, even hundreds of horses and mules and scores of boats and ships at a cost of Rs 200 crore, The Indian Express reported.

It takes the synchronization and untiring efforts of three institutions to beat these challenges and go about the process of polling seamlessly – the Home Ministry, the Election Commission and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). It is the Election Commission, however, which forms the brain of this exercise, and performs the following roles.

The link of information

The role of the EC begins from scheduling the dates and allocation of resources, civilian and security personnel.    

The Home Ministry provides security companies in consultation with other ministries, such as Railways, so as to arrange for their movement across the country. The movement entails arranging commute, meals and accommodation for the jawans; their briefing, and familiarization of their booths.

The CRPF is the nodal force on election duty.

How is the human resource arranged?

Even though the Election Commission of India has its headquarters in Delhi, it does not have adequate staff to conduct elections on such a mammoth magnitude.

It was in 1993 that the Supreme Court ordered the government and the EC to jointly decide the staff and forces required for the conduct of elections. This is in consonance with the Indian Constitution which states that the President or the Governor of a state is obliged to provide all “such staff as may be necessary” for the EC to conduct elections.

Deciding the dates

This is the most tedious part as the poll body has to keep in mind the culture, tradition, rituals and festivals of the vast spectra of communities that make India. For instance, in Assam, elections cannot be conducted on the day of Rongali Bihu. Similarly, the EC makes sure that voting is avoided on Sunday in the Northeast, considering that a significant population is Christian and goes to church that day.

In addition, the examination schedule and weather patterns need to be kept in mind before fixing the dates. For instance, elections have to be wound up in states that receive early monsoon by April.

In addition, the EC makes a number of dummy calendars with different sets of dates in order to maintain the secrecy of the actual schedule. It selects the final one shortly before the announcement.

Deployment of forces

Once the dates have been communicated to the Home Ministry, it schedules movement of forces in a way that minimum resources are used. For instance, a battalion deployed in Kanyakumari cannot suddenly be sent to Tripura.

Moreover, areas affected by extreme left-wing violence and insurgency, such as Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast, vote first as they need a fresh leg of security personnel.

Similarly, forces are deployed first at Lakshadweep Islands and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The movement of forces is also decided scientifically on the basis of their need in more populous areas. For instance, the forces deployed in Western UP for the first phase will move towards the east; and those in the Northeast will move westwards. This will ensure that there is enough security in Eastern UP and Bihar for the last couple of phases.

Similarly, those battalions which were stationed at Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will be moved to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

What is fascinating is that in certain belts of Chhattisgarh, even lunar cycles are kept in mind before drawing the schedule for elections. This is particularly the case in Naxal hotbeds as the security forces are required to move on foot at night and a moonlit night is ideal for this.

Special care

A slew of measures needs to be taken, especially in areas where left wing extremism is common, such as Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Here, security forces are deployed on the roads leading to the polling stations. For this, the state police is also deputed with central forces.

Places that are prone to the slightest violence are mapped and past instances are studied as to what helped avert violence. Each polling station requires anywhere between five and a hundred troops depending on where it is located.

Besides, there are places in the interiors of the country where there are no motorable roads. EC officers, as well as security personnel, reach the place either on foot or mules.

In addition…

The EC oversees the delimitation of constituencies, preparation of electoral rolls, recognition of political parties and allotment of symbols, scrutiny of nomination papers and election expenses of candidates.   This year, it has also taken upon it the onus of checking content posted by political parties on social media to make sure it is in keeping with Model Code of Conduct.

Powers

The Election Commission is an autonomic body insulated from any kind of executive interference. It is also a quasi-judicial body, which renders it judicial powers during the conduct of elections.

The recommendations of the EC are binding on the President of India. However, its orders are liable to independent judicial reviews in case an election petition is filed in a court.

Under the Indian Constitution, the poll body also has the power to disqualify a sitting MP or MLA in the case they are found guilty of corrupt practices, such as failing to file an account of his/her election expenses, if the issue is brought before the court.

Also, the judiciary does not get involved during the conduct of polls, and acts on an election petition only after the polls are over.