THE CONTEXT: The 2024 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election revived long-standing anxieties about (i) sudden 41 lakh additions to the State’s electoral roll within five months and (ii) an eight-point jump in final turnout published after 5 p.m. on polling day. The Election Commission of India (ECI) dismissed the charge as “absurd” in a detailed reply on 24 December 2024 to the Indian National Congress, yet public trust suffered a hit.
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- Simultaneously, the Union Government amended Rule 93 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, within forty-eight hours of receiving the ECI’s draft, curbing public access to CCTV/web-casting footage and Form 17C data files.
THE BACKGROUND AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK:
| Provision | Current status | Recent change / dispute |
|---|---|---|
| Article 324, Constitution – Superintendence, direction and control of elections | Vests these powers in the ECI | Independence questioned after new appointment law |
| Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023) | Supreme Court directed that CEC/ECs be selected by a committee of the Prime Minister (PM), Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Chief Justice of India (CJI) | Parliament enacted the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, replacing the CJI with a Cabinet minister, giving the executive a 2-of-3 majority |
| Rule 93, Conduct of Election Rules 1961 | Allowed inspection of “all other papers” | December 2024 amendment narrows access to only “papers specified in these rules,” effectively shielding CCTV footage and webcasts |
TECHNICAL DETAILS OF ROLL MANAGEMENT & TURNOUT REPORTING:
| Element | How it works | Vulnerability exposed |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous Updation + Annual Summary Revision (SSR) under RPA 1950 | Booth Level Officers (BLOs) verify additions/deletions; party agents receive draft rolls | Urban migration and bulk enrolment create data spikes; machine-readable rolls are not proactively published |
| ERONet / NVSP digital back end | Deduplicates entries using demographic + Aadhaar-seeded data | No public audit API; dedup logic opaque |
| Turnout App (provisional) | BLO texts 2-hourly figures manually | Manual entry errors show artificial 5 p.m.–close spikes; final Form 17C is the legal record and rarely mismatches |
| CCTV & webcasting | Live stream archived by the Returning Officer | Post-2024 amendment, footage not open to RTI inspection |
CURRENT SCENARIO & DRIVERS BEHIND ROLL SURGE:
| Driver | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Urbanisation & in-migration | CM cited new housing in Navi Mumbai, Pune fringes to explain voter influx |
| Reverse-migration post-pandemic | BLO data show net 6 % shift of electors to native constituencies (ECI internal note, Dec 2024) |
| Electoral roll cleansing in Lok Sabha 2024 | 17 lakh deletions of duplicates/deceased likely depressed net additions then, inflating later SSR |
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE:
| Country | Appointment of commissioners | Data transparency tools |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | House of Commons endorses names recommended by Speaker’s Committee; monarch appoints | Interactive open-data portal publishing polling-station results in CSV within 24 hours |
| South Africa | Multi-stakeholder panel (judge + civil-society representatives) shortlists; President appoints | “Results Operation Centre” screens raw tallies live; CCTV stored for 12 months. |
| Ghana | The President appoints in consultation with the Council of State; the biometric roll is available online. | Citizens verify personal data via SMS short code |
THE ISSUES:
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- Executive dominance in appointments – new Act skews selection committee 2 : 1 in government’s favour, conflicting with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ratio.
- Opaque roll data – PDFs, not machine-readable CSV; no checksum; civil-society audits impossible.
- Restricted evidence chain – amended Rule 93 blocks forensic review of CCTV and Form 17C, impeding redress.
- Digital divide in grievance redress – reliance on online portals marginalises voters without access.
- Over-centralised ECI secretariat – lacks independent budget and staff cadre, limiting rapid large-scale audits.
- Misinformation spiral – absence of timely granular data allows partisan narratives to flourish.
THE WAY FORWARD:
1. Restore balanced appointment panel
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- Amend the 2023 Act to reinstate the Chief Justice of India on the selection committee.
- This aligns with Anoop Baranwal and global good practice, insulating the ECI from executive sway.
- A simple majority in Parliament under Article 324 proviso can achieve this without a constitutional amendment.
2. Create an independent ECI Secretariat
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- Enact a separate service cadre with a charged budget on the Consolidated Fund of India.
- Mirrors the Lok Sabha and Supreme Court secretariats, ensuring staffing continuity.
- Goswami Committee (1990) and Law Commission (255ᵗʰ Report) already recommend this.
3. Mandate open-data electoral rolls
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- Publish rolls in CSV/JSON with SHA-256 hash to prevent post-facto tampering.
- Include anonymised voter-ID hash for civil-society duplicate detection while respecting privacy.
- Deadline: 30 days before notification of election schedule.
4. Blockchain-anchored Form 17C vault
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- Upload signed PDFs with block hashes time-stamped on a public ledger within 24 hours of counting.
- Immutable ledger prevents subsequent alteration, fostering verifiability.
- Pilot in urban constituencies with high litigation risk first.
5. CCTV footage escrow system
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- Retain raw footage for one year on a cloud vault accessible to recognised parties via secure login.
- Water-mark downloads to trace leaks, addressing administrative workload concerns.
- Costs can be offset under CSR by tech majors via Section 135-BB of Companies Act.
6. Turnout App upgrade with GPS-tagged auto-sync
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- Replace manual SMS entry with geo-fenced mobile capture plus image of Form 17A register.
- AI flagging of >2 % deviations prompts real-time alerts to observers.
- Training BLOs on the upgraded module during SSR period ensures usability.
7. Periodic third-party roll audit
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- Authorise CAG-empanelled auditors to sample-scrutinise 1 % booths after every general election.
- Publish audit matrix—duplicates, dead voters, address errors—for public scrutiny.
- Funding through Electoral Trust surcharge (0.01 % of corporate political donations).
8. Legislate Model Code of Conduct (MCC)
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- Elevate MCC to statute with graded penalties, enabling judiciary-backed enforcement.
- Closes gap where ECI directives are treated as moral suasion only.
- Draft bill can integrate Ombudsman for rapid dispute resolution during campaign.
9. Electoral Literacy + Misinfo Penalty
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- Partner NCERT to embed “digital election literacy” in school civics by 2027.
- Amend IT Rules to tag verified ECI data-sets on social platforms, flagging false turnout claims.
- Introduce ₹5 lakh fine for wilful dissemination of forged electoral documents.
10. Parliamentary Standing Committee annual review
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- Mandate ECI to submit a “State-wise Roll Health Report” each year.
- Committee hearings televised to nurture public accountability.
- Recommendations tabled with action-taken replies within six months.
THE CONCLUSION:
India’s electoral edifice has withstood formidable tests, yet perception is as critical as process. Restoring the balance in commissioner appointments, hard-coding data transparency, and opening institutional architecture to sunlight will convert latent public scepticism into democratic confidence, fulfilling the framers’ vision of an election machinery “out of the control of the Government of the day.
UPSC PAST YEAR QUESTION:
Q. Discuss the role of the Election Commission of India in the light of the evolution of the Model Code of Conduct. 2022
MAINS PRACTICE QUESTION:
Q. Recent legislative and administrative changes have rekindled debates on the independence and transparency of the Election Commission of India. Critically analyse these developments and suggest a robust reform package to uphold constitutional morality in India’s electoral democracy.
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