New Delhi: Of late, the Election Commission has come in for lavish praise from politicians for its role in shaping India's democratic set up. Some parliamentarians urge the poll panel, considered one of the pillars of Indian democracy, to take stronger corrective measures to improve the quality of the polity.
In an exclusive interview to Gulf News, one of the election commissioners S.Y. Quraishi spoke on issues ranging from voting rights for NRIs to the feasibility of making voting mandatory in a democracy.
GULF NEWS: Did Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's announcement come as a surprise to you that nearly 20 million NRIs would have voting rights in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections?
S.Y. QURAISHI: There was no immediate correspondence or discussion on the subject. But this subject had been debated in the past in Parliament, on the NRI community's request for the last several years. In fact, the parliamentary committee had in 2006 discussed its pros and cons in detail. So, based on the recommendations and the committee's decision at that time, the request for NRI voting must have been considered. But it entails several administrative issues. For instance, in which constituency will the NRIs be registered? The committee had recommended that the address on the passport would be taken into account and if they choose to come to India and vote, they could do so. But some amendments in the law would be required, because the present law says that a voter has to be registered at a place where he/she ‘ordinarily' resides. So, this law will have to be amended slightly to accommodate the NRIs, as India is not where they ‘ordinarily' reside.
Experts say that the paperwork for granting voting rights doesn't is not much. A constitutional amendment would suffice, with necessary changes in the rules framed under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
I don't agree with this because it will require a lot of paperwork. The Act and the rules both will have to be amended. You have to have political consensus and getting a law passed in Parliament is not always easy. It requires a lot of hard work with the drafting of the Bill, discussion and passage in Parliament. Apart from that, it will have to be seen how the NRIs will apply? The procedural requirements and the source or channel and at what level the applications will be verified, will all have to be worked upon.
Isn't it a bit tricky putting in place a system whereby NRIs scattered over 150 countries are able to vote? How would the polling booths be set-up? At various embassies and high commissions?
To our knowledge, the Parliamentary Committee had only looked at the possibility of NRIs voting in person in the constituency where they have a permanent address in the passport. Other hypothetical possibilities are the voting arrangements in the embassies or for a postal ballot as done for defence services and the polling staff on duty. Another option could be proxy voting wherein the NRIs could allow someone to vote on their behalf, which is allowed presently only for the defence forces. All these questions have yet to be answered.
But wouldn't it mean that the Election Commission would have to keep track of millions of Indians living abroad, who could belong to any of the 543 constituencies?
It's an extremely complex issue. Firstly, we will have to track them all over and inform them of the facility. Then one will have to find the most feasible method to enable the NRI voter, say someone in Latin America, to cast his vote.
Are NRIs actually interested in voting?
People have voiced concern about this question. Doubts have been raised that some undesirable elements may actually use this facility to contest and win elections.
What about factors like migration within the country?
This is certainly an important issue, as within the country there are people who migrate from one state to the other. Will they enjoy the same facility as the NRIs? After all, one cannot have different yardsticks for people living abroad and those living in the country. And since it's a policy decision and the Parliament is the forum to address this issue, the parliamentarians and every agency involved have to move fast, if it has to happen before the next general elections in 2014.
Recently, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi came out strongly calling for a consensus on barring candidates with criminal backgrounds from contesting elections. [Till now a candidate convicted in a case with a sentence of up to two years can contest polls].
This issue has been hanging for a long time. We first made a reference to the Law Ministry in 1998. But it was not agreed upon, as it requires political consensus. The explanation given by some politicians who were against this proposal was that sometimes political rivals foist false cases on a candidate. And since our judicial process provides that till the court has decided, a person cannot be held guilty. So, we had suggested a via-media to the government; at least in those cases, where the courts have framed charges and there is prima facie evidence, and the conviction could result in a sentence of more than five years, they should be barred from contesting during the pendancy of their trial. This is a long-pending proposal and needs early consideration.
Which other reforms can be brought about?
Recently, Parliament passed a law where some proposals were cleared. For example, the ban on exit polls because these could be manipulated to influence the voters. But opinion polls are still not covered under this Act and we propose to take up the matter with the law ministry. Another is about de-registering the political parties. The Election Commission has the powers only to register them, not to de-register them, even if they are not functioning. More than 1,000 political parties have not contested elections for several years, but their names continue to be on the rolls. We also suggested that accounts of their income and expenditure should be verified by independent auditors who may be appointed by the Comptroller and Auditor General or the Election Commission and these accounts should be made public.
India has the largest number of voters, but only half of them go to vote. Now Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi wants to make voting compulsory.
The turnout in the last general elections was around 60 per cent, which is among the best in the world, but not ideal. The right approach is to introduce educational programmes for motivating voters, as compulsion to vote will have complications. If such a law is passed and someone violates and doesn't vote, it will have to go through a due process, even if the fine is meagre. The person would have to be first given notice as to why he hasn't voted, which would mean opening a file for each such individual who does not vote. In the last general elections out of an electorate of 710 million, about 300 million did not vote, which means filing 300 million cases. Imagine the amount of cases considering there are three elections in five years — the Lok Sabha, the Legislative Assembly and the local bodies. It will end up creating massive problems rather than solving.
- S.Y. Quraishi was born on June 11, 1947 in Delhi to Maulana Zubair and Ayesha Begum.
- Early education in a traditional Urdu-medium Anglo Arabic School.
- Joined St Stephen's College, New Delhi, and did Masters' in History.
- Immediately after that got appointed lecturer in a college and taught for two years.
- Earned distinction for his study of modern Persian, Arabic and German languages.
- Cleared the Indian Administrative Service exams and was allotted to Haryana cadre in 1971.
- Held several key positions including Special Secretary in the Health Ministry and Director-General Doordarshan.
- Appointed Election Commissioner in 2006.
Profile: From academic to administrator
