India’s first elections took place in 1951-52. Society, education, culture, demographics, and technology have seen a remarkable transformation during the past seven decades. In elections, too, We’ve come a long way from using paper ballots and traditional ballot boxes to now using computerised voting machines. 

A complete evaluation and analysis of the lessons learned from the 17 general elections to the Lok Sabha and hundreds of state assembly elections is now required.

The Urgent Need for Electoral Reforms in India

Here are the reasons why India needs electoral reforms urgently: 

  • Voter Fraud: There have been several instances of voter fraud, intimidation, and tampering during the recent general elections for India’s parliament and state legislatures. 
  • Mistakes: Although the electoral records are revised annually after an intricate procedure, there are still some mistakes in the lists. On the one side, there is the problem of fake, duplicate, phoney voters, and on the other, the omission of legitimate voters.
  • Use of Caste and Religion: This has been a common topic of conversation in the past. In order to deter candidates and political parties from engaging in such behaviour, the Representation of the People Act, 1951, has to be amended to provide the Election Commission authority to disqualify anyone who engages in it from running for office or gathering political support. Overtly religious, caste, community, and tribe-based statements and terms in the titles of political parties should be prohibited as well.
  • NRI Voters: Estimates place the number of NRI/Overseas Indian Voters at 3.10 crores. There were only 13,039 eligible voters, out of which just eight cast ballots in 2014. Only a tiny fraction of the 71,735 eligible voters in 2019 cast ballots. Fewer than 0.02% of eligible NRI voters have their names on the rolls.
  • Persons With Disabilities: This group includes persons with disabilities as well as the elderly. Approximately 7% to 8% of the electorate may vote this way. As of yet, there are no statistics on how many people in this group voted in the 2019 elections.

Electoral Reforms in India

Here are the suggested electoral reforms in India:

 

  • It is possible to use technology to automate the process of updating and revising the electoral rolls so that new voters can be added to the lists as soon as they reach the legal voting age. The Aadhar [UIDAI] and municipal birth records may be linked digitally to all new voters.  
  • All duplicate, phoney, and fraudulent voters will be eliminated. It is necessary for free, fair, and inclusive elections in India to have real-time updated electoral records.
  • Using 5G Internet and a variety of broadcast technologies, political parties may more easily and conveniently reach their constituents’ homes and workplaces. Political parties and politicians may no longer prefer to have physical rallies, even if they are authorised. 
  • Polls might be held at any time of the day or night over a period of many days rather than on a single day during established polling hours. Voters have the freedom to cast their ballots whenever and wherever they want. During the actual digital voting process, the voter’s identity and location may be validated using facial recognition and other security technologies like blockchain, among others.
  • Despite the Supreme Court’s major rulings and the ECI’s efforts, the system is nevertheless prone to error. It’s imperative that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) be bolstered in order to penalise irresponsible politicians and recalcitrant political parties. Keeping the integrity of the election process demands a multi-pronged strategy, including eliminating criminals and moneybags from politics, destroying poll petitions, and creating internal democracy and financial transparency in the political parties.

Conclusion

While the first three general elections were free and fair, the fourth general election in 1967 marked the beginning of a decline in standards. In many countries, political corruption may be traced back to the country’s voting mechanism. There are no universal models that we can follow. We must address the need for reforms as soon as possible, given our large electorate of more than 100 million in the next legislative elections.