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According to the Article 324 (i) of the Indian Constitution, there is a provision for Election Commission, who will be responsible for conducting the election of the Union Parliament, the State Legislative Assemblies, President and Vice-President. The Election Commission is an independent and impartial agency to conduct free and fair elections in the country.

Composition of Election Commission and Appointment of its Members:

(i) The Election Commission consists of the Chief Election Commissioner and as such number of other Election Commissioners as the President may fix from time to time. Thus the Election Commission of India can either be a single member or a multi-member body. Till 1989, the Election commission was a single member. Just before the 1989 general elections, two Election Commissiones were appointed, making the body multi-member. Soon after the elections, the Commission reverted to its single member status.

(ii) In 1993, two Election Commissioners were once again appointed and the Commission became of multi-member and has remained multi-member since then. The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) presides over the Election Commission, but does not have more powers than the other Election Commissioners. The CEC and the two Election Commissioners have equal powers to take all decisions related to elections as a collective body and generally they take decisions on consensus.

(iii) The Constitution of India has ensured the independence of our Election Commission and has made it an impartial body which is responsible to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections. The following provisions make the Election Commission of India an independent body.

1. Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners and Regional Election Commissioners, if any, are appointed for a fixed term.

2. Chief Election Commissioner cannot be removed from office before the expiry of his term except on the grounds and in the manner a judge of the Supreme Court can be removed. It means the Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office by the President before the expiry of his term on grounds of incapacity and misbehaviour, only if a resolution to this effect is passed by both the houses of Parliament by a two-third majority.

3. Other Election Commissioners and Regional Election Commissioners can be removed from office only on the recommendations of the Chief Election Commissioner.

4. Salary and other allowances of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners are to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of India.

5. Tenure and other service conditions of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners are fixed by the President, but they cannot be changed to their disadvantage during their term of the office.

 

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Political parties have their significant position in modern mass democracy. The conduct of election is largely dependent on the behaviour of political parties. Unfortunately, today the political parties do not follow their own Constitution. They hold no party elections and continue to function for years.

A few persons holding the apex position, strangulate the democratic functioning and aspirations of the members of the party at the grassroots. Therefore, it is most needful to reform political parties and make them open, democratic and accountable.

The laws apart from making it obligatory for parties to have internal democracy and work in an accountable manner should empower the Election Commission to make regulations for:

(i) Compulsory registration of political parties.

(ii) Compulsory maintenance, auditing and publication of accounts.

(iii) Submission of reports to the commission.

(iv) Mandatory publication of membership rolls, election of office bearers at every level by secret ballot.

The commission has suggested that anyperson who is accused of any offence punishable with imprisonment for five years or more should be disqualified, even when his trial is pending, provided that the competent court of law has taken cognizance of the offence and framed the charges against him.

In August, 1997 the Election commission issued an order. This order made it mandatory for every candidate to file affidavit about his/her convictions in cases covered by law. The Commission also clarified that the conviction by Trial Court itself is sufficient to attract disqualification and even those who are released on bail during the pendency of their appeals against their conviction are disqualified for contesting elections.

The Election Commission's position was further strengthened by a judgement of the Supreme Court delivered on May 2, 2002 asking the government to amend the rules to make it obligatory for candidates for elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies, to give information about their assets and liabilities, qualifications and criminal antecedents, if any.

The Election Commission by an order of May 14,2002 implemented Supreme Court's directives. Election Commission has taken some steps to control use of muscle power also. These include ordering fresh poll in case of destruction of EVMs in polling booths and coercion, intimidation and impersonation at polling stations. Withholding the result, pending investigation by the Commission on complaints of booth capturing and recommending actions against officers for negligence in duties.

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When all adult citizens irrespective of property, education, race, religion, gender or other differences have been given right to vote,the process is popularly known as Universal Adult Franchise.

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The various reports of committees on electoral reforms particularly the Goswami Committee Report (1990) and the Tarkunde Committee Report (1975) have so far not led to substantial changes in electoral system and law. It seems that political parties are indifferent to electoral reforms.

In some cases parties in the name of electoral reforms have tried to neutralize the steps taken by the Election Commission or judiciary to bring in some desired changes. The latest example in this regard is consensus among all parties in their July 2002 meeting to water down the directives given by Supreme Court and followed by the Election Commission to debar criminals from contesting elections and candidates to provide information about their assets, qualification etc.

Nevertheless it is now widely recognized that in order to preserve and strengthen the democratic setup a comprehensive agenda of reforms is necessary.

Electoral reforms include reforms in the system, structure and processes. They are required to:

(i) Check criminalization of politics.

(ii) Curb use of money and muscle power in election.

(iii) Regulate the functioning of political parties.

(iv) Provide reasonable representation to various sections of society, including women in Parliament and State Legislatures.

(v) Ensure voter participation and voter awareness.

(vi) Make the election machinery effective and credible.

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Adult Franchise means that the right to vote should be given to all adult citizens without distinction of caste, religion, class or sex.There should be no qualification of property or education also. Only lunatics, minors, bankrupts, criminals and aliens are deprived of the right to vote and all others are given this right without any distinction. The age of adulthood differs from country-to-country. For instance it is 21 years in America, 18 in Russia, India and England; 23 in Norway. The voters cast their votes by secret ballot system.

The five points of criticism is raised against the Universal Adult Franchise are the following:

Points of criticism against the Universal Adult Franchise:

1. It is not proper to give the right to vote to ignorants: The right to vote is not a natural or an inherent right, which everybody can enjoy. In fact, it is a sort of special privilege, which is conferred only on those persons who are best fitted to utilize it for the welfare of the state. Some people are of the opinion that the right to vote should be given only to the educated people. The educated persons can make the proper use of their right. An uneducated person cannot understand who is the best candidate out of all.

2. Ordinary man is the slave of instincts: The masses are ignorant and illiterate. They do not even possess the capacity of understanding to elect the best candidates and to judge the worth of governmental policy. Therefore, to entrust the right of voting to ignorant masses is to welcome dangerous consequences. The system of Universal Adult Franchise establishes a government of the fools, because, the fools and the ignorants are in majority in the society.

3. Adult Franchise encourages corruption: The common persons of the country are the poor citizens. And the persons who contest the elections are mostly the rich persons. As a result, the candidates, who mostly belong to the rich classes, attract the poor people towards themselves by purchasing their votes. The poor people, who have the right to vote, sell their votes. In this way system of adult franchise fails and encourages corruption.

4. All citizens are not equal: It is also wrong that all the people are not equal. Nature has not created anybody equal, some are wise from their very birth and others are fool. All thepeople cannot be given similar type of work because all are not equally competent. Therefore, all the people cannot be given the right to vote and to contest elections on equal footing.

5. Franchise is not a right, but a responsibility: Many scholars consider that the right to vote is not a right, but it is a responsibility. This right can be extended only to those persons who are really capable to use it properly. If it is extended to an incompetent person, it proves very useless. Therefore, the right to vote should be extended only to the capable and educated persons.