ELECTION COMMISION OF INDIA www.eci.nic.in
India, Sovereign Democratic Republic India is a federal parliamentary democratic republic, President is the head of the country and the Prime Minister of India is the head of the Government. India follows the dual polity system, consists of the central authority at the centre and states at the periphery. The constitution defines the powers and limitations of both Central and State Governments
Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a permanent, independent, constitutional body vested with the powers and responsibility for superintendence, direction and control of all elections to both Houses of the Parliament; the Legislative Bodies of the States and the Union Territories; and to the offices of the President and the Vice-President of India. ECI comprises of Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners each having the status of judge of the Supreme Court of India
Role & Responsibility of ECI The Election Commission of India conducts the elections in free and fair way maintains and periodically updates the Electoral Rolls, supervises the nominations of candidates, registers political parties, monitors the election campaigns, including funding of candidates undertakes campaigns/programmes for spreading awareness among the voters to increase their participation conducts counting of votes and the declaration of results of each election.
Management of Elections National Province (State/UT) Districts Assembly Constituency Polling Station/Booth ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA Chief Election Commissioner + 2 ECs Secretariat with 500 staff Chief Electoral Officers (36) District Election Officers (707) Electoral Registration Officers (4120) Booth Level Officer (Close to one million) ELECTION TIME: All Civil employees and Police force in the Country are placed on deputation :: Total workforce: ELEVEN MILLION
High order of electoral integrity and credibility General Elections 2014 Polling Stations > 9 Lakh Hills/deserts/islands Election Staff & Security personnel > 11 million Forces and Administration Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) > 1.5 million Fully secured Electors > 834 million EPIC coverage 100 % Photo Identity Domestic Observers > 1200 Fairness of Elections Contesting Candidates > 8000 Political Parties > 464 Parliamentary Seats 543 Votes casted > 550 million Since 1952, 16 General Elections to Parliament and nearly 350 elections to State Legislatures, besides Presidents and Vice-Presidents have been conducted.
Electoral Governance in India Guarding independence & autonomy Free from influence Free, Fair & Transparent elections Stakeholder Consultation Information Technology Electronic Voting Machine Election Expenditure Monitoring Basic Minimum Facilities Model Code of Conduct SVEEP
Model Code of Conduct India has Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for candidates and Political Parties It proved a very potent instrument creating level playing for the candidates and political parties. It also ensures ruling party not to take advantage of government machinery in anyway. Violation are adjudicated by ECI summarily on the basis of facts. Regulation of conduct is done through the deputation of election related staff. There is stress on self regulation by the media too There is demand to make the existing arrangement more accountable. Press Council of India and National Broadcaster s Association have framed guidelines for media during election period. ECI has the task of oversight over manifestoes where announcement of sops should conform to guidelines issued under MCC. MCC is a unique document which has no statutory backing but only moral. Judiciary has given teeth to the ECI and ruled that MCC can be enforced by the ECI under Constitutional power from the date Commission announces the schedule of election.
ECI and ICT ECI uses Information Technology (ICT) in a big way for 1. Providing easier service delivery and access to electors- 1. On-line application for electoral roll; 2. Electoral Roll search facility on the website, through SMS and Mobile App 3. Polling Station locations on maps on ECI website; 4. Call centre with 1950 (phone number) for public grievances/information/help 2. Ensuring greater transparency 1. Displaying affidavits of candidates indicating personal, financial and legal status for public view, 2. Electoral Rolls on the website, 3. Use of Poll Day Live webcasting from Polling Stations 3. Better election management. 1. Observer Management system, 2. SMS based poll monitoring, 3. Election Monitoring dashboard for officers at all levels, 4. EVM tracking through software 5. Trends and result live dissemination through Portal
National Voter Service Portal (NVSP) National Voters Service Portal aims to provide single window quality services through user friendly interface for citizen to increase transparency and ease of access of information. The use of cloud services made the National Electoral Search significantly fast and providing search services over more than 85 crore electoral data within a blink of eye. Search your name in electoral roll Apply online for registration as new voter Correction of entries or change of address Track status of application Print voter information slip Know your Booth Level Officer, Electoral Registration Officer and District Election Officer
Political Party Information and Registration System It is a system used to register and track the Political Party registration applications. Salient Features : Allocating unique file number to each application. Check application status online. SMS functionality: An SMS will be sent to the applicant showing the current application status. Check for Similar Party name. Scheduler: An interface that allows the officers to schedule next date for the files and communicate it to the applicants Reports/Dashboard: Interface for officers to see the status of all applications with their details, history and current status. Letter printing: Different types of letters can be printed from the Software.
Election Expenditure Monitoring System Salient Features - Monitor Candidate total expenses Monitor Funds given by political party to the candidate Monitor Funds given by others to the candidate Monitor Expense understated or not Monitor Candidate expenses exceed ceiling amount or not EEMS Dashboard with graphs, charts and MIS analysis reports
Election related Complaint Monitoring System (Samadhan) Samadhan It is a Public Grievance Redressal System. Samadhan conceptualized as a Comprehensive system with multiple modes for receiving complaints (through online, toll free (1950) email, mobile application, fax, post, sms ) Online processing of complaints. Monitoring and alert mechanism built in Public can track and see ATR.
Single window clearance for permission related to campaigning (Suvidha) Suvidha A single window system for Candidates and Political Parties to apply for permissions for (Meetings, Rallies, vehicles. temporary election office, loudspeakers, helicopters and helipads etc) This system is put in place at every RO level in each sub-division. It provides for applying, processing, granting and monitoring permissions.
Management of vehicles hiring and deployment system (Sugam) Sugam- Issuance of requisition letters for vehicles. Capturing of vehicle details with address, mobile number and bank details of Owner & Driver. Generation of log book. Online entry of payment, POL etc. through VMS. Transfer of vehicles from one district to another district through VMS. Generation of payment calculation chart and release order. Information about payment / POL to vehicle owners through SMS. Provision of online complaints by vehicle owners regarding payment.
Live Web Casting on Poll Day Frame work for web casting of video picked up from within the polling booth has been created using open source software tools. It keeps a check on unwanted activities and help bringing about complete transparency in the voting process. Also it will be a live broadcast. It may be used for AWARENESS to the users as well. Usefulness of Webcasting To keep a check on illegal activities such as booth capturing, money distribution and bogus voting to bringing about complete transparency. To broadcast and monitor LIVE election process from a distant polling station. To capture faces of voters coming to vote at PS in a sequence for remote viewing by election officials. To spread AWARENESS to participate in Free and Fair Elections.
Geographic information system (GIS) Polling Station Location on Google map It is a web based module to help users find their polling station location on Google map. Google map is available as service and is gaining a popularity now. The names of election officials (CEOs, DEOs, EROs, and BLOs along with their mobile no's) is also displayed for polling booths. The electoral roll in pdf format of State / UT is also linked with them.
Polling station area on Google map (close to 1 million PS) Polling Station Area Section Area
ECI on Social media Since younger generation is social media savvy, the voter education promotion and ethical voting education is carried out through social media like Facebook, twitter and U-tube. Training sessions and public addresses are delivered through U-tube as open data. During elections, What s app groups are created and used effectively for immediate sharing of information.
ECI on facebook
International Training since 2011 22 INDIA INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DEMOCRACY AND ELECTION MANAGEMENT (IIIDEM) was established in 2011 as a response to and recognition of the long felt need for developing capacity and promoting professionalism in the management of elections. Since its inception, it has conducted 16 international training events/workshops on various aspects of election management, including the following: Ten country-specific training programmes for electoral officials from a single country, such as Nepal, Kenya, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Maldives; Seven multi-lateral training programmes including South Asian Association for Regional Countries (SAARC) and Commonwealth countries. There are training programmes such as India s Technical & Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) and Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme (SCAAP), which are conducted in active collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
23 Snippets of Previous Trainings/Seminars
Modernisation (EVM with VVPAT/IT) The Electronic Voting Machine or the EVM is one of the significant features in elections. With consistent support of political parties, the Commission replaced the use of ballot boxes by the EVMs in 2004. It gave speed, efficiency, and visibility to the process. Selective introduction of Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail or VVPAT with the EVM in some constituencies has been appreciated by all the stakeholders.
In conclusion, technology is deployed by the ECI in a big way to reduce human biases. EVMs and VVPATs have been used. Online voter registration, setting up EVMs in presence of political party representatives, deployment of poll and counting staff through randomisation process, facilitation through toll free numbers, SMSs and a host of other initiatives have increased transparency in elections and the result is that the candidates accept defeat even if they lose by margin of a single vote. ECI has been able to achieve such high order of electoral integrity by improving procedures in a transparent manner with effective oversight of an independent judiciary and has been able to introduce new generation of technology with much less amendments to the laws framed by the Parliament in 1950 and 1951.
Judicial Support A quote from the Supreme Court Judgment: Where the existing laws are absent and yet a situation has to be tackled, the Chief Election Commissioner has not to fold his hands and pray to God for divine inspiration to enable him to exercise his functions and perform his duties or to look for any external authority for the grant of powers to deal with the situation. He must lawfully exercise his power independently, in all matters relating to the conduct of elections, and see that the election process is completed properly in a free and fair manner. -Supreme Court of India, in M.S. Gill and Anor V. Chief Election Commissioner and Ors, AIR 978 SC 851. 26
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