ELECTION PROCESS IN INDIA
1. Delimitation of Constituencies:
The First step of conducting the Elections can be started as the
Delimitation of Constituencies. Which is done by a Delimitation commission appointed every
10 years by the President of India. Generally, a Constituency which elects a member of the
Loksabha consist of 6 or 7 State Legislative Assembly constituencies.
2. Recognition of Political parties: Political parties have to be registered with the Election
commission. The commission determines whether the party is structured and Principles of
Democracy. According to certain Criteria, set by the Election commission categorized to the
Parties National or State parties and recognised or Un-Recognised parties. National parties are
given a symbol throughout the country.
3. Photo Identity card: In the elections, to improve Accuracy of the Electoral roll and prevent
Electoral Fraud, the Election commission ordered the making of Photo Identity card for all
voters in the country in Aug, 1993. The commission issued the Photo Identity card include
(EPIC number) programme in May 2000.
4. Electoral Rolls: The Electoral Rolls are revised after each Census, before Elections. In 1998
the commission took a Historic decision to computerize the entire Electoral rolls of 620 Million
voters. The Photo Identity card number of the voter has also been printed in the Electoral rolls.
Entire country’s Electoral Rolls are available on Election commissions Website.
5. Notification and Appointment of Returning officers: When a General Elections are to be
Held, the President of India discuss to the Election commission, Central and the State
governments announces the Poll calendar i.e. the dates for Filling Nomination papers, Scrutiny
of Nomination papers and Withdrawal of Nomination papers by the Candidates. The Election
commission then appoints Returning officers for every Constituencies.
6. Filling of Nomination papers: The candidate to contest in the Elections have to fill their
Nomination papers with the Returning officers in their Respective constituencies. Such
candidates must submit their Nominations in a given Formats prescribed by the Election
commission. If the contest is a Party Candidate, the Name has to be Proposed by a Twice
Registered voters. The contest candidate along with his Nomination papers has to deposit a
fixed amount.
7. Scrutiny of Nominations: After the last date for the filing of the Nominations, all the
Nomination papers are duly scrutinized by the Returning officers in the presence of the
candidates or his Nominee. The scrutiny is conducted for Nomination papers filed properly, the
candidate possess the Required Qualifications and they have compiled with all Rules and
Regulations. Later, the Returning officer decides candidates Name found in order.
8. Election Campaign: The contest in Elections Political parties are conduct in the Election
Campaign. Each party issues an Election Manifesto which state its Policies, Programmes and
Promises. These process Aim for influence Public opinion in its favour. They use Wall Posters,
Organise Public Meetings, Advertisement in TV and RADIO, Door to Door canvassing try to
impress the voters. The Election Campaign continue up to 24 hours before the time of the Actual
Polling.
9. Electronic Voting Mission: An Electronic Voting Mission is a simple Electronic device used
to Record votes in place of Ballot papers and Ballet boxes in the Election voting system. Secret
voting enables the voters to exercise their votes in accordance with their Wishes and Opinion.
This system is very essential for making elections free and fair.
Advantages:
1. It Eliminates the Possibility of Invalid and Doubt full votes.
2. It makes the process of Counting of votes much Faster than the Conventional system.
3. It Reduces to quantity of Paper used, thus Saving a Large number of Trees.
4.It Reduces cost printings for the Ballot papers in the Polling station.
10. Polling of votes: Polling Personnel are appointed and Polling booths are set up in different
localities. Each Polling booth conducts more than thousand voters. The voting is a Secret one.
Instructions are given to voters as to how they could through vote in Electronic voting machine.
To Avoid Bogus votes and Impersonation votes Indelible Ink is put on the Point finger of the
Voter after He or she had exercised their Vote.
11. Supervising Elections by Observes: The Election commission appoints a large number of
Election Observes to ensure that the campaign is conducted fairly, and Peoples are used their
Vote with freely and independently. Election observes keep a check on the amount that each
Candidate and Party spends on the election.
12. Media Coverage: The media provided with facilities to cover the Election. Media persons are
given special Passes to Enter Polling stations to cover the Polling process and the Counting halls
during the actual counting of votes.
13. Counting of Votes and Declaration of Result: After the process of Polling of Votes, on a
fixed Day and Time, the Returning officer and his Staff members open the voting Machines in
the presence of the Agents. Then each candidates verifies his Votes Polled recorded in the EVM.
A Candidate who gets more valid votes than the other Contesting candidate in every
Constituency is declared Elected. The Returning officer makes an Announcement of the Results
in this regard.
14. Election petitions: Any Elector or Candidate can file an election Petition to the Election
commission if he or she thinks there has been Malpractice during the Election. This petition
involved whole constituency Owe Responsibility. These petitions are Enquiries and Discussed
in the High court of the State concerned.
0 Comments