Election Commission of India: Mentoring The Democracies of the World
“Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world.”
-Roald Dahl
The power of every citizen in the country is exercised while voting for their representatives. The fair and free elections of India are the largest democratic exercise in the world, with the voting population of India being almost equivalent to the total population of Europe and Brazil.
The Election Commission of India has a mammoth task of conducting elections and has set a tremendous example of integrity and bureaucratic efficiency despite organizing such a huge electoral process. Officials of other countries including Russia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Maldives, & Sri Lanka have always been in awe of India’s smooth elections all possible by the effort of Election Commission of India along with ingenious tactics to avoid problems. Several officials from abroad have even come as observers in order to witness the Election process in action.
In the recently concluded 2019 Lok Sabha Elections more than 9 Crore Indians were eligible voters and the election process took almost 6 weeks to complete in 10 lakh polling stations. Due to ECI’s extensive efforts, the voter turnout of India is at a high 67.74%, comparable with the developed countries in the world. Across the widespread geographical area of India, Lok Sabha elections happened across seven phases where 7 National, 26 state parties and 2000 smaller political parties competed for votes. These mindboggling numbers give a glimpse of how difficult it is to organize the elections yet among its international contemporaries; India’s Election Commission has a well deserved reputation for fair and smooth elections where no citizens have been threatened violently.
Its commitment to the upholding of every citizen’s right to vote is seen clearly with organization of the highest polling station in the world at above 15000 feet, in Himachal Pradesh, where electoral officers trek for 12 days to reach the people.
With new methods to combat tampering of votes and enhance transparency, like the addition of photos along with names of candidates to EVMs so that it is easier for voters to recognize the person they are voting for and the mandatory declaration of criminal records by candidates to both the Election Commission and the press. Another example is the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) introduced recently which provides a slip to the voter after casting their vote.
The transparency of Election Commission and its functioning is an inspiration to all the sectors of the country and to Election Commissions internationally.
