Conduct of Elections in India- Indian Polity UPSC Notes

Conduct of Election in India

The Representation of People Act of 1951 provides for the conduct of elections in India. It defines the roles and responsibilities of government officials and the procedures for the conduct of elections, such as on the matters of nomination, campaigning, polling, counting, declaration of results and offences.

Administrative Machinery for the Conduct of Elections

Article 324 of the Constitution vests the power of superintendence, direction and control of elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies to the Election Commission.

Besides the Constitution, the Election Commission exercises powers and functions under the RPA 1950 and the RPA 1951.

Neither the Constitution nor the RPA laws provide any permanent cadre to the Election Commission. However, they are allowed to make use of the state machinery to conduct the elections. Thus, in consultation with the state government, it nominates the following officers for the conduct of elections:

1. Chief Electoral Officers (CEO)

The Election Commission nominates an officer of the state governments (or a UT) as a Chief Election Officer in consultation with the concerned state government.

• The CEO supervises the conduct of all elections in the state under the supervision, direction and control of the Election Commission.
• The Election Commission designates and nominates the officers of the state governments and union territories as CEO in consultation with the concerned state government and union territory.

2. District Election Officer (DEO) & Observers

The district election officer coordinates and supervises all work in the district or in the area within his/her jurisdiction under the superintendence, direction and control of the Chief Electoral Officer.

They are responsible for providing a sufficient number of polling stations in a constituency. Generally, District Magistrates are nominated as the DEOs.

Observers

The observers are government officers who are nominated by the Election Commission to watch the conduct of elections in a constituency or a group of constituencies and to carry out such other functions as may be entrusted to him/her by the Election Commission.

3. Returning Officer (RO) and Assistant Returning Officers (ARO)

• They are responsible for the conduct of elections in an assembly or parliamentary constituency. In that capacity, S/he performs the following functions:
  1. Supervises election in each constituency
  2. Accepts Nomination Papers of Candidates
  3. Publishes list of candidates in the constituency
  4. Certifies election agents & counting agents
  5. Counting of votes & declaration of result
• The Commission may appoint one or more ARO/s to assist the returning officers.

4. Presiding Officer

1. The District Election Officer (DEO) shall appoint a presiding officer for every polling station and such polling officer/s as s/he thinks necessary.
2. It is the duty of the presiding officer to maintain order at the polling station and ensure that the elections are conducted fairly.
3. In case of absence of the polling officer, the presiding officer may appoint a person who is present at the polling station as polling officer and inform the district election officer accordingly.

The Elections Process

The entire election process takes a couple of months to be completed. and here are following elections process:

1. Election Notification

Though the Election Commission announces the holding of the election in advance, the election actually starts when the Commission issues a formal declaration inviting a constituency to choose its representative. This is referred to as ‘Notification’.

2. Dates for the nomination:

As soon as the notification of elections is issued, the Election Commission notifies the following:

1. The last date for making nominations is the 7^th day after the publication of notification;
2. The day of scrutiny of nominations which is the day immediately after the last day of making nominations.
3. The last day for withdrawal of candidature which is the 2^nd day after the day of scrutiny of nominations.
4. The gap between the date/s on which the polls will be held and the last day of withdrawal of candidature cannot be less than 14 days (before 1996, it was 20 days).
5. The date before which the election will be completed.

 

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