Elections, free, fair, peaceful and participative, are the life force of democracy. By virtue of holding its first national election in 1952 India achieved the status of the world‟s largest liberal democracy. Credible democratic elections at stipulated intervals have since enabled our nation, starting with deep- rooted social hierarchies and developmental backlog, to undertake a peaceful transformative journey for inclusion and empowerment of the common citizen and ,thereby, become an inspiration to the whole world.
The five year term of the 15th Lok Sabha is due to expire on 31st May, 2014. Article 324 of the Constitution of India bestows the relevant powers, duties and functions upon the Election Commission of India while Section 14 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 provides for conduct of the elections to constitute a new Lok Sabha before the expiry of its current term.Taking into account these Constitutional and legal provisions, the Election Commission of India has made comprehensive preparations for conduct of elections to the 16th Lok Sabha in a free, fair and peaceful manner.
Elections to world‟s largest democracy pose immense challenges with respect to logistics and man and material management and Commission‟s endeavour in this direction has been to consult all stakeholders, invite inputs from all relevant departments/ organizations and evolve a coordinated framework for smooth delivery of yet another round of General Elections.
The Commission also held a meeting with the Chief Secretaries, Directors General of Police, Home Secretaries, Chief Electoral Officers and Police Nodal Officers of all States and UTs on 20th February, 2014, to assess the overall law and order situation, ascertain State/ UT specific areas of concern, deliberate on the quantum of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) required in each State/ UT and to review the overall preparedness of the election machinery. The cooperation of all authorities was sought for conducting free, fair and peaceful elections across the country, under the overall supervision and control of the Commission.
The conduct of General Elections in the entire country requires considerable deployment of Central and State Police Forces to ensure peaceful, free, fair election with fearless participation of electors, especially in the vulnerable areas/ pockets. Mobilization, deployment and disengagement of these forces with minimum criss cross movement and optimal utilization, involved complex planning and detailed analysis, carried out over several rounds of consultations with the senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs/ CAPFs/ Police Nodal Officers of the States/ UTs. The Commission too, held discussions with the Union Home Secretary to highlight the areas of coordination for effective deployment of these forces.
The Commission had detailed discussions on the nation-wide Election Communication Plan with the Secretary, Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and senior officials of BSNL and MTNL to ensure effective multi-mode communication system so that the Commission could track events on each of the Poll days‟ uninterruptedly. The communication shadow areas were accorded a priority during the meeting and DoT was asked to ensure coverage of all such areas, after identifying the best available option.
Keeping in view the interests of the students and also the fact that Polling Stations are mostly located in school buildings and teachers are engaged as polling personnel, the Commission has consciously factored-in the examination schedules of various State Boards, including the Central Board of Secondary Education, in the process of finalizing the poll dates. In addition to this, other relevant factors like various holidays and festivals falling in the months of March, April and May, harvest season in certain parts of the country and the inputs obtained from the Indian Meteorological Department on the pre-monsoon rainfall, onset and spread of monsoon and acute hot weather conditions in certain parts of the country have also been taken into consideration.Thus, while deciding on the number of poll days for each State/ UT and the composition of the PCs that go to polls on a particular poll day, the Commission has, to the extent possible, taken all relevant aspects and information, related thereto, into view.
ELECTORAL ROLLS
The process of continuous updation of electoral rolls will continue till the last date of filing nominations.
The total electorate in the country as per final published E-rolls in reference to 01.01.2014 is approximately 814.5 million compared to 713 million in 2009. (This marks an increase of more than 100 million electors.)
There has been a remarkable increase in the enrolment of electors in the age group of 18 to 19 years. Over 23 million electors are in this age group. Electors in the age group of 18 to 19 years now constitute 2.88% of total electors, against 0.75% in 2009.
Commission allowed enrolment of transgender persons with gender written as "Others" in the electoral rolls since 2012. The number of electors enrolled as "Others" gender is 28,314.
Parliament amended the Representation of the People Act, 1950, allowing enrolment of Indian citizens living overseas as electors. 11,844 overseas electors have been enrolled in the current electoral rolls. There are 13,28,621 service electors in the electoral rolls.
PHOTO ELECTORAL ROLLS AND ELECTOR PHOTO IDENTITY CARDS (EPIC)
The country had gone to polls with Photo Electoral Rolls for the first time in 2009. Now all States and UTs have PERs Rolls. Photographs of 98.64% electors are already printed in the electoral rolls. 95.64% electors have been given EPIC. The percentage of electors with EPIC and photographs in electoral rolls is likely to increase further before the elections. 17 States and UTs, viz. Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, Goa, Daman & Diu, NCT of Delhi, Lakshadweep, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Kerala have photographs of 100% electors in the electoral rolls. 16 States and UTs have 100% EPIC coverage. These are -Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, NCT of Delhi, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Kerala. Remaining electors are advised to submit their photographs to obtain their EPIC from the concerned Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) urgently. CEOs have been directed to maximize photo and EPIC coverage in the electoral rolls before the elections.
POLLING STATIONS
Presently there are approximately 9,30,000 Polling Stations in the country, as compared to 8,30,866 Polling Stations set up during Lok Sabha election, 2009. This marks an increase of nearly 11.9 percent Polling Stations. This increase is largely due to rationalization of Polling Stations, which the Commission undertook in the recent years.
BASIC MINIMUM FACILITIES (BMF) AT POLLING STATIONS
The Commission has recently issued instructions to the Chief Electoral Officers of all States/ UTs to ensure that every Polling Station is equipped with Basic Minimum Facilities (BMF) like drinking water, shed, toilet, ramp for the physically challenged voters and a standard voting compartment etc..
ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES (EVM)
The Commission has decided to use Electronic Voting Machines in all the polling stations of the country as was done in Lok Sabha Elections in 2004 and 2009. There are 14,68,430 Control Units (CUs) and 14,95,430 Ballot Units (BUs) available in the country. Apart from this, manufacturers have been asked to manufacture and supply 2,51,650 Control Units and 3,82,876 Ballot Units, which are expected to be received by 31st March, 2014. With this, the country will have 17,20,080 Control Units and 18,78,306 Ballot Units. First Level Checking (FLC) of
the available EVMs has been started in all the States/ UTs and has been completed in many places.
Commission has put in place several administrative safeguards for EVMs. These include, sealing of CU and BU with Pink Paper seals specially manufactured by Security Printing Press, Nasik; two stage randomization; mock poll by casting 1000 votes in at least 5% EVMs both during FLC and preparation of EVMs during candidate set operation, taking a sequential print of the 1000 votes cast during the mock poll at the preparation stage and showing it to representatives of political parties and candidates; mock poll by casting at least 50 votes on poll day, multiple thread seals on the EVM and green paper seal on the result section of the CU after mock poll. All of this is done in the presence of political party representatives and candidates, and their signatures are obtained on the seals and in the registers kept for this purpose. Polled EVMs are transported under armed escort and stored in strong rooms with a double lock system and guarded 24x7 by armed police. There is CCTV coverage of strong rooms and political parties and candidates are also allowed to keep a watch on them, round the clock.
NONE OF THE ABOVE (NOTA) OPTION IN EVMs
In its judgement dated 27th September, 2013 in Writ Petition (C) No. 161 of 2004, the Supreme Court has directed that there should be a “None of the Above” (NOTA) option on the ballot papers and EVMs and that the same should be implemented , either in a phased manner or at a time with the assistance of Government of India‟. For implementing the NOTA option, the Commission has issued detailed instructions to the Chief Electoral Officers of all States/ UTs. On the BUs, below the name of the last candidate, there will now be button for NOTA option so that electors who do not want to vote for any of the candidates can exercise their option by pressing the button against NOTA. The Commission is taking steps to bring this option to the knowledge of voters and all other stakeholders and to train all field level officials including the polling personnel about the NOTA option.
USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Commission uses Information Technology (IT) in a big way for three important purposes. These are - providing easier access to electors for service delivery, greater transparency and better election management. Examples of use of IT for easier access to service delivery include on-line application forms for inclusion of names and modifications and deletion of entries in electoral rolls; facility for electoral search on the website of CEOs and through SMS; Polling Station locations on maps on ECI website; use of Call centre with 1950 as the phone number for public grievances, etc. IT will be used to increase transparency by putting affidavits of candidates on website, electoral rolls in PDF form on the website, use of webcasting from Polling Stations, etc. Commission will use IT for better management of elections by applications such as SMS based poll monitoring, Election Monitoring dashboard for officers at all levels, EVM tracking through software, etc..
SCHEDULE
The Commission, after taking into account all relevant factors, has finalized the Schedule for General Elections to be held on 9 Poll days to constitute the 16th
Lok Sabha.
The Highlights of the Schedules are indicated below:
On the occasion of the 16th Lok Sabha Elections, the Commission:
- Reassures the nation of its solemn resolve and deep commitment to fulfil its constitutional mandate to conduct free, fair, credible elections;
- Exhorts the eleven million plus election machinery to rededicate themselves to the tasks associated with the conduct of elections as a sacred duty;
- Appeals to all stakeholders and in particular, the political parties and candidates, to uphold the peerless democratic traditions of the nation by maintaining high standards of political discourse and fair play in course of their election campaigns; and
- Calls upon all voters to reinforce the democratic ethos of the nation by turning up at polling stations and exercising their right to vote in an informed and ethical manner.
(R.BALAKRISHNAN)
Deputy Election Commissioner
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All Information Text And Photo are From Document (GE_2014_15032014_for_Publication)ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA
