5.4 The Election Commission

India holds the largest elections in the world, with hundreds of millions of voters, across deserts, mountains, islands and crowded cities. Running such an enormous exercise fairly is a colossal task. The body responsible for it is the Election Commission of India (ECI), one of the most important guardians of Indian democracy.

An independent referee

What the Election Commission Does The Election Commission of India is an independent constitutional body that organises, conducts and oversees elections to Parliament, state legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President. Its independence is vital: like a fair referee, it must not favour any party or government, so that elections are free and fair.

The Commission’s work is vast. It includes:

• preparing and updating the electoral rolls (the voters’ lists);
• fixing the schedule and stages of elections;
• registering political parties and allotting election symbols;
• arranging polling booths, EVMs and staff across the country;
• supervising the counting and declaring results;
• enforcing rules of fair conduct on parties and candidates.

The Model Code of Conduct

Rules for Fair Play To keep the contest fair, the Election Commission enforces the Model Code of Conduct, a set of guidelines that all political parties and candidates must follow once elections are announced. It bars, for example, the use of government money or machinery for campaigning, the bribing or intimidating of voters, and appeals to hatred. The Code helps ensure that the ruling party does not get an unfair advantage and that the contest is honest.

Why independence matters

If the body running elections could be controlled by the party in power, that party could rig the result, and democracy would be a sham. India’s Constitution therefore makes the Election Commission independent of the government of the day. This independence is what gives Indians, and the world, confidence that India’s election results reflect the real will of the people.

Think About It Imagine a cricket match where one team also chooses the umpire and keeps the score. Would you trust the result? Now connect this to why the body running elections must be independent of any political party. What might happen if it were not?

A massive, careful operation

The scale is staggering: polling stations are set up so that, by rule, no voter should have to travel too far to vote, reaching remote villages, forests, deserts and even a booth for a single voter in some far-off places. Security, transport and lakhs of polling staff are mobilised. That India manages this peacefully, again and again, is one of the great achievements of its democracy.

Let’s Explore Imagine you are an election officer for one day. List three things you would have to arrange to make sure your polling booth runs a free and fair vote (think of the roll, secrecy, the EVM, fairness). Then write one rule from the Model Code of Conduct you would enforce.

Even with universal franchise, fair voting and an independent Election Commission, democracy is never “finished.” It faces real challenges, the subject of the next section.