By N Ravi Shanker
The staircase of Indian democracy comprises 3- tiers (the Three Tier Panchayati Raj system & its corresponding urban counterpart) and 2-decks (the Legislative Assembly and the Parliament). At any given point in time, we have an election on in some part of the country to one or the other representative body. That is truly a deterrent for development. “One nation, one election, one electoral roll, one-day poll” is my mantra, to tide over the current situation. This can be attained by legislative, administrative, technological and people-friendly measures.
First things first – it is imperative to have only one electoral roll for Legislative Assembly-cum-Parliament and for Local Bodies (3 Tier Panchayats & Urban Local Bodies). As they are governed by provisions of different Acts of the Centre (Representation of People’s Act, 1951) and the States (various Acts covering the Local Bodies); there needs to be necessary amendments to facilitate and achieve the process of integration into one electoral roll. As an Assembly segment, is fully encapsulated within a Parliamentary constituency, likewise the basic level units of a Local body (Rural/Urban) can be encapsulated within a Legislative assembly; even as a Zila Panchayat or Nagar Nigam may have a number of Assembly seats / Parliamentary seats within its geographical area. As the District Officer (District Election Officer) has the requisite powers in respect of multiple Acts as applicable at the district level, assimilation and coordination is possible.
Next comes the issue of reservations. Reservation of seats for members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is in place as per the Constitutional provisions. Reservation for women ranges from 33% to 50% in local bodies, varying across states. The Women’s Reservation Act provision for Legislative Assembly and Parliament is fixed at 33%, with the proviso that it will be effective, after the publication of the next Census. That is some years away. At present, both these higher level representative bodies, namely the Parliament and Legislative assemblies, have a small percentage of women representatives in their respective houses. At the time of independence, it was resolved that Universal Adult franchise will be granted to all men and women. This has stood the test of time over the last 70 years. Now we are in Amrit kaal. Time to take a call, on giving equal representation for women.
Delimitation of Legislative Assembly seats and Parliamentary seats is a contentious issue in itself if population alone is deemed as the basis for delimitation. In Uttarakhand, where migration outward from hill region is driven by economic compulsion, any proposition to reduce the number of Legislative Assembly seats from the hill areas, and award it to the plains within the state, is not without naysayers. Likewise, on a national scale any exercise to reduce the number of Parliament seats in the southern region, and proportionately increase the numbers in the populous northern states may not go well – as the aggrieved states may feel that they are being penalised for adopting population control measures over the last several decades.
The twin issues of Women’s Reservation and Delimitation of Constituencies in respect of Parliament, can be addressed at one stroke. Double the number of Parliament seats (in Lok Sabha) from 543 at present to 1086 seats. For each Parliamentary constituency have two seats – one for a male representative and the other for a female representative. This way gender parity can be attained, and there will also be enhancement in seats all across the country, without having to redraw the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies, in a manner that there are some aggrieved states and some contented states. A similar exercise can be done for Legislative Assemblies. If this seems like a workable proposition, a similar arrangement can be worked out for the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) and Legislative Councils (wherever they exist).
Next comes the technological aspects of conduct of Elections. The EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) were first used in Lok Sabha Elections in 2004. In respect of some Vidhan Sabha Elections, it was done so a few years earlier to that. It is now time to move beyond EVMs, to the next phase – Online Voting. The nation’s telecom infrastructure of optical fiber (terrestrial), telecom towers (microwave transmission) and satellite communication in limited geographies, is in good shape. Bharat-Net project to cover all villages with optical fiber facility, be accelerated. Fiber of 1GB-10GB capacity, as per requirement, be laid out, to make the nationwide optical fiber network truly robust. In a similar vein, the 5G telecom tower network be expanded across all geographies. This telecom infrastructure is the base on which all IT applications can be overlaid. The nation’s IT infrastructure and capabilities are strong. The manpower handling this infrastructure, as available in the public and private domain, is capable and competent. It is time to leverage the power of technology and have a leap of faith towards online voting. An amendment to the Representation of People’s Act 1951 is needed to facilitate it. If our Parliamentarians, cutting across party lines, consent to this amendment, it will do wonders to demonstrate our technological, managerial and administrative prowess. Political will is the key, and as a citizen one hopes that our politicians will key in on this. If such an amendment were to see the light of day, the entire election – from a Pradhan to the Pradhan Mantri – can be conducted in one day. Election Day need not be declared as a holiday. On the contrary, let it be a normal working day. There is no need for a Voter to go to a Polling booth. Every laptop, every mobile, every tablet is a polling booth in itself. The Voter ID and the Aadhar Card number should be mandatorily linked. On Polling Day, every voter can log in to cast her/his vote via laptop/mobile/tablet etc. The popup screen for the dual identity of Aadhar and Voter ID will show the photo of the Voter and go through a series of authentication, before one can cast one’s vote across the various layers – Parliament, Legislative Assembly and Local body. As a Voter can be registered in only one location (where one is normally resident); the popup screen will display names of candidates in the fray (separate layers for the Parliamentary constituency, Legislative Assembly constituency, Local body segment/ ward) in her/his home location. De-duplication software will ensure that even if a person is registered across several geographies, corrective mechanism will ensure that s/he has only one vote. In fact, a Voter Identification Day can be there preferably 10 days before Polling Day. On this day, the Voter authentication process can be completed electronically (akin to the Booth Level Officer handing over the Voter ID slip physically as is the current practice). A 24–hour window should be available for online voting. Based on Election Commission guidelines (to be modified to factor in this feature), district administration vested with responsibility for conduct of elections can make special arrangements for those who do not possess electronic devices or are not comfortable with the use of such devices. Bank branches, Post Office branches and CSC (Common Service Centres) infrastructure can be leveraged to enable people to cast their vote. All of these micro-units will have good connectivity. Additionally, the Panchayat Ghar / Govt Office in the vicinity, which has a Bharat-Net link up-to that point, and a facility of a free public wi-fi, can serve the needs of the rural voters. Every public point can serve as a common service point to access the net to cast their vote. This is the concept of anytime, anywhere voting by the voter on a single day. As polling booths get obliterated, polling percentage all across the country can get to be 90% and above. The huge election machinery of civil and police personnel, and para-military forces need not be in election mode for weeks on end. Election Day can still be a festival of democracy, with high voter participation. That will be true democracy for selection of candidates of people’s choice.
We the people of India gave to ourselves a Constitution in 1950. It has worked well. Sovereignty vests with the people, and every vote counts. As a voter, I present my proposal to the nation and the law makers.
(The author is a retired civil servant and the views expressed are personal).
