Published: August 29, 2020 7:40:28 am
An election official applies ink to a voter’s finger at a polling station in Panchkula in 2019 (Express photo: Jaipal Singh).
The Prime Minister’s Office earlier this month held a meeting with representatives of the Electoral Commission and the Ministry of Justice to discuss the possibility of having a common electoral roll for elections to the panchayat, municipality, state assembly and Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often presented a unique voter list.
The Indian Express It explains why we have different voter lists and why the government is interested in changing that.
How many types of electoral rolls do we have in our country and why the distinction?
In many states, the voter list for panchayat and municipal elections is different from that used for elections to Parliament and Assembly. The distinction is due to the fact that the supervision and conduct of elections in our country are in charge of two constitutional authorities: the Electoral Commission (EC) of India and the State Electoral Commissions (SEC). Established in 1950, the EC has the responsibility of conducting elections in the offices of the President and Vice President of India, and in Parliament, State Assemblies, and Legislative Councils. The SEC, on the other hand, oversees municipal and panchayat elections. They are free to prepare their own electoral lists for the elections of local bodies, and this exercise does not have to be coordinated with the EC.
So do all states have a separate voter list for their local body elections?
No. Each SEC is governed by a separate state law. Some state laws allow the SEC to borrow and use the entire EC voter rolls for local body elections. In others, the state commission uses the EC voter list as the basis for preparing and reviewing lists for municipal and panchayat elections.
Currently, all states except Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, adopt CE lists for agency surveys local.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often presented a unique voter list. (Photo / File Express)
Why is the Union government working on a common electoral roll for elections to all local bodies, state assemblies and Lok Sabha?
First, the common electoral roll is one of the promises the BJP made in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections last year. It relates to the party’s commitment to hold elections simultaneously to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and local bodies, which is also mentioned in the manifesto. The current government has drawn up a common electoral roll and simultaneous elections as a way to save an enormous amount of effort and expense. He has argued that preparing a separate voter list causes duplication of essentially the same task between two different agencies, thus doubling the effort and expense.
The proposal for a single voter list is not new. The Law Commission recommended this in its 255th report in 2015. The EC also took a similar position in 1999 and 2004.
How does the government plan to implement it?
At the meeting called by the Prime Minister’s Office on August 13, two options were discussed. First, a constitutional amendment to articles 243K and 243ZA that grant the SEC the power of superintendency, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls and the conduct of the elections of the local organs. The amendment would force a single electoral roll for all elections in the country. Second, persuade state governments to amend their respective laws and adopt the Electoral Commission (EC) voter list for municipal and panchayat polls.
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