It is the duty of the Election Commission of India,

1 Office Fax THE ELECTION COMMISSION Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishna Murthy 23720012 23739933 23717027 Election Commissioners B B Tandon 23720013 23355631 23717035 N Gopalaswami 23716552 23711023 23713689 SECRETARIAT Deputy Election Commissioners Dr. Noor Mohammad 23717047 23717059 23717049 A N Jha 23356025 23318506 23715028 Principal Secretaries Anand Kumar 23717039 23355623 Rajesh Aggarwal 23717043 23716557 Secretaries K R Prasad 23318497 23356027 S K Kaura 23717045 23717025 A K Majumdar 23710318 23319179 Tapas Kumar 23717164 23052007 K Ajay Kumar 23710221 23711850 R K Srivastava 23717338 22598836 K F Wilfred 23052026 23052010 Legal Counsel S K Mendiratta 23716712 23357542 Advisor K J Rao 23714197 23717153 Consultant S P Singh 23356026 23717080 Editorial Board: Dr. Noor Mohammad, AN Jha, Anand Kumar, Rajesh Aggarwal, S K Mendiratta, K J Rao Design Assistance: Anjuli Vijay, Mohit Kaicker Designed and produced by: India Tourism Development Corporation for the Election Commission of India. Printed at: Rakesh Press, New Delhi B B Tandon T S Krishna Murthy N Gopalaswami From the Desk of the Chief Election Commissioner It is the duty of the Election Commission of India, under the Constitution, to hold free and fair elections, to both the Houses of Parliament, State Legislatures and the offices of the President and Vice-President of India. The Election Commission of India, an independent constitutional authority, has played a fundamental and critical role in the evolution of Indian democracy and the same has been acclaimed by the international community. The Commission has recently completed successfully General Elections, 2004 to the House of the People and four State Legislative Assemblies. These elections witnessed the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which are reliable and temper proof, for the first time in all the Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies. All stakeholders hailed the use of EVMs. These elections had fewer incidents of violence. The credit for this goes mainly to Central Para-military and Police Forces of various States. I compliment them for a great job done. The Commission made strenuous efforts to increase awareness among the electors. It was the endeavour of the Commission that the general elector emerges as a winner in these elections. The media was versatile and played an important role. They were instrumental in bringing various critical issues to the fore for the benefit of the general elector. The Commission used to bring out a Newsletter titled Documentation Quarterly, which was discontinued for various administrative reasons. A communication gap between the general elector and the Commission has been felt since then. I am happy that the new quarterly publication titled Election India is reviving the practice. I am sure that all will welcome this initiative. (T S KRISHNA MURTHY) Chief Election Commissioner of India

2 The Election News Mr. J M Lyngdoh demits the office Mr. J M Lyngdoh, Chief Election Commissioner of India, demitted office on 7 February, 2003. He was conferred upon a 2003 Magasaysay Award for Government Service in recognition of his convincing validation of free and fair elections in Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir held in the year 2002 and best hope of secular democracy in strife torn India. Mr. Lyngdoh served as Election Commissioner of India from 1 March, 1997 to 12 June, 2001 and as Chief Election Commissioner of India from 13 June, 2001 to 7 February, 2004. Mr. J M Lyngdoh biding goodbye to Mr. T S Krishna Murthy and Mr. B B Tandon, Election Commissioners and Justice (Retd) Kuldeep Singh, Chairman, Delimitation Commission of India Mr. T S Krishna Murthy takes over as the Chief Election Commissioner of India Mr. T S Krishna Murthy taking charge as Chief Election Commissioner of India Mr. T S Krishna Murthy, Election Commissioner of India took over as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India on 8 February, 2004. Mr. Krishna Murthy was appointed as Election Commissioner of India on 30 January, 2000 after over 36 years of distinguished Civil Service. He served on the panel of fiscal experts for the International Monetary Fund in 1996 and 1998. Mr. Krishna Murthy holds a Degree in Law & Post Graduate Degrees in Economics and Fiscal Studies. Mr. Krishna Murthy retired from Civil Service as Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Company Affairs in the year 1997. He was the first Chairman of Investor Protection and Education Fund set up by the Government of India to look after the interests of corporate investors. Mr. N Gopalaswami is the new Election Commissioner of India Mr. N Gopalaswami, Home Secretary, Government of India, joined the threemember Election Commission of India as new Election Commissioner on 8 February, 2004. He has 38 years of distinguished Civil Service behind him. He held important positions in the Government of Gujarat and the Government of India. He was Managing Director of Gujarat Communications & Electronics Limited and later, Member-Secretary, National Human Rights Commission and Secretary, Department of Culture, Government of India. Mr. Gopalaswami is a Post Graduate in Chemistry from Delhi University. Mr. N Gopalaswami takes over as new Election Commissioner of India

3 Indian Elections go fully electronic for the first time The Election Commission of India conducted General Elections 2004 to Lok Sabha, the House of People of the Indian Parliament and four State Legislative Assemblies completely electronically with the help of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the first time. In these elections, 1.075 million EVMs were used in 543 Parliamentary and 697 Assembly Constituencies. Foreign delegates witness General Elections to Lok Sabha Forty-six delegates from Australia, Bhutan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and IFES witnessed the General Elections 2004 to Lok Sabha, during the last phase of these elections. Mr. James Burchett, Chairman, Australian Election Commission, Pol. Gen. Vasana Puemlarp, Chairman, Electoral Commission of Thailand and Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, Chairman, Election Commission of Malaysia led their respective delegations. Foreign delegates observing sealing of EVMs Mr. Anil Kumar Bachoo, Minister of Public Infrastructure, Mr. Deelchand Jeeha, Minister of Information Technology and Mr. Mohammad Irfan Abdool Rahman, Electoral Commissioner were part of the Mauritian delegation. Ambassador Lion Weil represented IFES. Foreign delegates visiting a polling station The foreign delegates were particularly interested in seeing the functioning of EVMs. During the course of their stay they visited the distribution and collection centres besides polling stations on the poll day. The delegates could see the use of EVMs in both urban and rural areas. They were delighted to see the functioning of EVMs and surprised with quickness of the results. Foreign delegates watching the election results

4 Election Commission installs helplines and touch screens for electors convenience - reminds the electors to exercise their franchise through BSNL and MTNL candidates woo the voters through SMSs and e-mails The Election Commission installed helplines and touch screens in various urban cities for the convenience of electors. Through helplines, electors could locate their names in the electoral rolls and find the polling stations they were to vote at. The Commission reminded the voters to exercise their franchise through BSNL and MTNL. The candidates wooed the voters through SMSs and e-mails. The candidates were seen at their best to use the novel methods to impress the electors. The General Elections 2004 were indeed hi-tech, EVMs notwithstanding. All thirty-five States & Union Territories launch their websites The websites for all thirty-five States & Union Territories were launched during the General Elections 2004. These sites had background information of local interest, forms of use in local languages and contact numbers of various Election Officers in the State and Districts. Scanned affidavits of all the candidates, indicating their educational qualifications and antecedents, were also put on these websites. Many States & Union Territories also put their voters list on these websites. President congratulates the Election Commission Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, Hon ble President of India, while addressing the newly constituted Parliament, congratulated the Election Commission of India for smoothly conducting the 14 th Lok Sabha elections using Electronic Voting Machines for the first time. Election Commission declares the schedule for revision of Electoral Rolls with respect to 1.1.2005 The Election Commission has decided to undertake intensive revision of electoral rolls in the North Eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and the State of Jammu & Kashmir and special summary revision in the remaining States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, and Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, NCT of Delhi, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. In respect of Arunachal Pradesh and Maharashtra, the intensive and special summary revision respectively will be taken up after the completion of General Elections to their respective State Legislative Assemblies to be held in the later part of 2004.

5 The Years Gone By... The Election Commission of India was setup as the permanent constitutional body on 25 January, 1950 under Article 324 of the Constitution of India. Mr. Sukumar Sen was appointed as the first Chief Election Commissioner. Since then, twelve Chief Election Commissioners guided this body to become fiercely independent. J M Lyngdoh M S Gill T N Seshan V S Ramadevi 14 June 2001 to 7 February 2004 12 December 1996 to 13 June 2001 12 December 1990 to 11 December 1996 26 November 1990 to 11 December 1990 R V S Peri Shastri R K Trivedi S L Shakdhar T Swaminathan 1 January 1986 to 25 November 1990 18 June 1982 to 31 December 1985 18 June 1977 to 17 June 1982 7 February 1973 to 17 June 1977 Dr. Nagendra Singh S P Sen Verma K V K Sundaram Sukumar Sen 1 October 1972 to 6 February 1973 1 October 1967 to 30 September 1972 20 December 1958 to 30 September 1967 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958

6 General Elections 2004 Elections in India are events involving political mobilization and organizational complexity on an amazing scale. The General Elections to the 14 th Lok Sabha, the House of People were due in October 2004, but consequent to early dissolution of the House, the Election Commission of India decided to hold the elections to the Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Sikkim, as well as fifteen bye-elections in various states during April-May 2004. India, The Largest Democracy General Elections 2004 Total Seats (Lok Sabha) 543 Electorate 671524934 Number of polling stations 687402 Number of election personnel engaged Approx. 4 million excluding para-military and police personnel Number of EVMs used 1.075 million Direct expenditure incurred Approx. Rs 13000 million Number and Types of Lok Sabha Constituencies For General Candidates 423 Reserved for Scheduled Caste Candidates 79 Reserved for Scheduled Tribe Candidates 41 Total Constituencies 543 Schedule of Elections On 29 February, 2004, the Election Commission of India announced the schedule of elections, with polling to be held in four phases. The phasing of the elections has become a necessity over the years due to large requirement of para-military forces and time needed for their movement across various states. That phasing of polls pays rich dividends was brought out by the fact that poll related violence came down substantially. Later, the Commission decided to hold elections for two seats in Tripura on 22 April, 2004 instead of 20 April, 2004 and for one seat in Andaman & Nicobar Islands on 20 April, 2004 instead of 10 May, 2004. Schedule of Elections Day of Polling Number of Seats 20 April, 2004 142 26 April, 2004 136 05 May, 2004 83 10 May, 2004 182

7 Model Code of Conduct The Model Code of Conduct, agreed to by all the political parties in 1968, was first effectively put to use as a major instrument for ensuring fair elections and providing level playing field by the Election Commission in 1991. As in the earlier elections, the Model Code of Conduct was closely monitored and strictly enforced by the Commission. The Commission sent senior civil servants as Observers to various constituencies. Services of about 2000 officers were availed of during the election period. To ensure that the ruling alliance does not get undue advantage over the political rivals, a number of measures were taken. There was a ban on transfers of officials, declaration of new schemes and initiation of new works. The Government could not make any promises to lure the electorate. The Commission watched the conduct of civil servants engaged in performing election and related duties. It ordered transfers of those whose impartiality came under question. The police and para-military forces were deployed to instill a sense of security and confidence among the electors. Use of Electronic Voting Machines The Representation of People Act, 1951 was amended by the Indian Parliament in 1989 to facilitate the use of EVMs. However, they were really put to use only after a decade, when the Commission took a bold initiative for introducing EVMs in 16 Assembly Constituencies during State Legislative Assembly Elections in November 1998. In General Elections 2004, EVMs were used for the first time throughout the country making the elections go fully electronic. The user-friendly EVMs could be used even by the illiterates with ease. Since the EVMs work on battery, electricity was not a problem. The polling personnel carried EVMs in convenient boxes. The use of EVMs was preceded by an elaborate training programme and widespread campaign to educate the voters, candidates, political parties, media and the election staff. The failure rate of the machines was negligible. All stakeholders hailed the use of EVMs. The use of EVMs saved around 1,50,000 trees which would have otherwise been cut for production of about 8000 tonnes of paper required for printing the ballot papers, if traditional system of ballot boxes was adopted. The use of EVMs made possible reduction in the number of polling stations from 0.77 million to about 0.7 million, as the maximum number of voters per polling station could be increased to 1500 from earlier prescribed limit of 1200. EVMs were taken to polling stations on foot, bicycles, yaks, horses, elephants, camels, by road, boat, helicopter and all imaginable means. Election staff checking EVMs Election staff carrying EVMs on elephant back

8 The Political Parties For these elections, there were six National Parties, forty-five State Parties and 702 Registered Unrecognized Parties. Since about a decade, regional and smaller parties gained importance in Indian polity. They have played a major role in Government formation through pre-poll and post-poll alliances. There are no permanent friends or foes in politics becomes clear when Indian context is analysed. National Parties and Their Symbols Bharatiya Janata Bahujan Samaj Communist Party Communist Party Indian National Nationalist Party Party of India (Marxist) of India Congress Congress Party The Candidates There were 5435 candidates for 543 Lok Sabha seats Number of Candidates and 4504 candidates for 697 seats in four State Legislative Assemblies. The number of women candidates was 354 Lok Sabha 5435 and 324 respectively. Though the ceilings for expenses to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly 1896 be incurred by the candidates were raised, due to strict Karnataka Legislative Assembly 1715 observance of Model Code of Conduct and monitoring Orissa Legislative Assembly 802 of election expenses, the overt publicity remained subdued. To ensure a level playing field, the Supreme Sikkim Legislative Assembly 91 Court of India ordered regulation of advertisements on Age Profile of Candidates electronic media to be put by the candidates and political parties. The candidates were required to file affidavits Oldest Candidate 94 years declaring their assets and liabilities, educational qualifications, Government dues and criminal cases pending against them, if any. These affidavits were Youngest Candidate Average Age of Candidate 25 years 52.7 years displayed on the notice boards of the offices of the Returning Officers, and placed on the website of the Election Commission to enable the electors make their informed choice. Some of the Non-Governmental Organisations compiled this information and circulated the same for the benefit of the voters. The Voters All Indian citizens of and over the age of 18 and ordinarily residents in the country are eligible to vote. There were over 671 million electors, out of which about 389 million exercised their franchise. To curb the bogus voting, apart from the Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC), the Commission prescribed a list of alternative documents that the voters were required to produce at the time of voting. The voting percentage in the General Elections 2004 to Lok Sabha was 57.82.

9 Polling Percentage during various General Elections to the Lok Sabha Year Electors Polling %age Men Women Total Male Female Total 1952 173,213,635 61.2 1957 193,652,069 62.2 1962 113,944,234 102,427,981 216,372,215 63.31 46.63 55.42 1967 129,568,604 119,434,730 249,003,334 66.73 55.48 61.33 1971 143,474,831 130,619,662 274,094,493 60.90 49.11 55.29 1977 167,019,151 154,155,176 321,174,327 65.63 54.91 60.49 1980 185,210,315 170,380,385 355,590,700 62.16 51.22 56.92 1984 196,730,499 182,810,109 379,540,608 68.18 58.60 63.56 1989 262,045,142 236,861,287 498,906,429 66.13 57.32 61.95 1991 261,832,499 236,531,302 498,363,801 61.58 51.35 56.93 1996 309,815,776 282,756,512 592,572,288 62.06 53.41 57.94 1998 316,692,628 289,191,475 605,884,103 65.72 57.88 61.97 1999 323,813,667 295,723,180 619,559,944 63.97 55.64 59.99 2004 349,494,136 322,030,439 671,524,575 61.84 53.47 57.82 The Media Electronic and print media plays a vital role in any democracy. The versatile Indian media played a critical role in General Elections 2004. They debated on various issues of importance and watched the conduct of candidates, political parties and electoral authorities. Many of them came forward to run the voter awareness campaigns. Intensive coverage was given by the media to the past performance and background of candidates. Many conducted opinion and exit polls, though most of them were proved wrong by the voters. All national and state political parties were given opportunity to express their views through electronic media by allotting them specific time slots on state-owned television network Doordarshan and All India Radio, which amounted to indirect state funding. The Results There were more than 1200 counting centres spread over about 850 towns in the country. The counting of votes for Andhra Pradesh State Legislative Assembly was undertaken on 11 May and for Lok Sabha, other State Legislative Assemblies and bye-elections on 13 May. The use of EVMs made the process of counting easier and faster. The results were out earlier than expected. The Commission made elaborate arrangements to receive directly results from the Returning Officers using GENESYS software. The Commission s website http://www.eci.gov.in received more than 10 million hits on the day of counting. General Elections 2004 Interesting Facts Oldest Winner 94 years. Ramchandra Veerappa from Bidar, Karnataka Youngest Winner 26 years. Sachin Pilot from Dausa, Rajasthan Maximum Margin Arambagh Parliamentary Constituency, West Bengal - 592502 Votes Minimum Margin Lakshadweep Parliamentary Constituency - 71 Votes In 119-Santhemarahalli Karnataka Assembly Constituency, winning margin was ONLY ONE VOTE

10 Results of General Elections 2004 to Lok Sabha at a glance Party Contestants Won INC 417 145 BJP 364 138 CPM 69 43 BSP 435 19 CPI 34 10 NCP 32 9 SP 237 36 RJD 41 24 DMK 16 16 SHS 56 12 BJD 12 11 JD(U) 73 8 SAD 10 8 PMK 6 6 TDP 33 5 JMM 9 5 MDMK 4 4 JD(S) 43 3 RLD 33 3 RSP 17 3 AIFB 10 3 AITC 33 2 AGP 12 2 JKN 6 2 MUL 10 1 JKPDP 3 1 NPF 3 1 KEC 1 1 MNF 1 1 SDF 1 1 TRS 22 5 LJNSP 40 4 NLP 18 1 SJP(R) 10 1 RPI(A) 7 1 BNP 4 1 AIMIM 2 1 IFDP 1 1 Independents 2385 5 Total 5435 543 Age Profile of the Winners of 14th Lok Sabha Results of General Elections 2004 to the State Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Sikkim at a glance Party Andhra Karnataka Orissa Sikkim Total Pradesh INC 185 65 38 1 289 BJP 2 79 32 0 113 CPI(M) 9 1 1 0 11 CPI 6 0 1 0 7 BSP 1 0 0 0 1 BJD 0 0 61 0 61 JD(S) 0 58 0 0 58 TDP 47 0 0 0 47 SDF 0 0 0 31 31 JD(U) 0 5 0 0 5 JMM 0 0 4 0 4 SP 1 0 0 0 1 TRS 26 0 0 0 26 AIMIM 4 0 0 0 4 JP 2 0 0 0 2 OGP 0 0 2 0 2 KCVP 0 1 0 0 1 KNDP 0 1 0 0 1 RPI 0 1 0 0 1 Ind. 11 13 8 0 32 Total 294 224 147 32 697

General Elections 2004 - Photo Gallery 11 Officials at a Distribution Centre Officials checking EVMs and Polling Materials Officials carrying EVMs and Polling Materials A group of villagers with EPI Cards Electors going to exercise their franchise An elector familiarizing himself with the functioning of EVM An elder on way to cast her vote Electors waiting in queue Indelible ink being marked on elector s finger A physically-challenged casting her vote Mr. T S Krishna Murthy, Chief Election Commissioner of India, casting his vote Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, Hon ble President of India, after casting his vote

12 GENERAL ELECTIONS 2004 Votes Polled by Winners as Percentage of Voters Groups No. of Winners Below 20% 00 20% to 30% 16 31% to 40% 95 41% to 50% 214 51% to 60% 176 61% to 70% 36 Above 71% 06 Total 543 Groups Votes Polled by Winners as Percentage of Electors No. of Winners Below 10% 02 11% to 20% 93 21% to 30% 220 31% to 40% 186 41% to 50% 36 51% to 60% 04 61% to 70% 02 Above 71% 00 Total 543 1. Parliamentary Constituency with largest number of electors - 3368399 (Outer Delhi) 2. Parliamentary Constituency with lowest number of electors - 39033 (Lakshadweep) 3. Parliamentary Constituency with largest area - Ladakh (J&K) - 173266.37 sq. km. 4. Parliamentary Constituency with smallest area - Chandni Chowk (Delhi) - 10.59 sq. km. 5. Maximum contestants in a Parliamentary Constituency - 35 (Madras south) 6. Polling Station with least number of electors: Only ONE voter in Polling station No. - 29 (Dharampur) in Miao Assembly segment of Arunachal East Parliamentary Constituency 7. Maximum women contestants in a state - 61 (UP) 8. Minimum women contestants in a state -1 (Goa) 9. Maximum women winners - 7 (UP) 10. Out of 543, number of women MPs - 45 11. Maximum votes secured - Sajjan Kumar in Outer Delhi - 855543 12. Minimum votes secured - Ashok Kumar in Chandni Chowk (Delhi) - 45 13. Minimum votes secured by a winner - Dr. P. Pookunhikoya - 15597 votes (Lakshadweep) 14. Average age of elected MPs - 52.6 years