RELEVANCE OF TN SESHAN'S ELECTORAL REFORMS CURRENTLY.

SESHAN'S IMPACT 

Current discussions and debate which even raised  fingers on the credibility on  our constitutional  institutions and bodies naturally owes a lot to  the farsighted reforms initiated by the tenth Chief Election Commission of India Tirunellai Narayana Iyer  Seshan(TN Seshan) during his tenure 1990-1996. He was instrumental for redifining the status of Election Commission ,asserting it's autonomy and constitutional authority making it central pillar of our democracy. He introduced staggered election schedules to "Prevent booth capturing " deployed central forces to secure polling stations ,and appointed senior officers as Election Observers to ensure  conduct of fair polls and results.  Seshan also identified and and attempted to tackle more than 150 electoral malpractices, including the  use of religious places for compaigning ,loud speaker abuse ,and appeals based on caste and communal divisions. His reforms in the entire electoral process and mechanism made Indian elections fair ,clean and very much transparent. Major measures adopted comprise of - making voter ID card mandatory for all eligible voters in order  to reduce electoral fraud.Enforcement of Model code of conduct which emerged as a very powerful tool to ensure a powerful level playing field for all political parties. Another achievement was the setting up of expenditure limit fo candidates  on the expenditure incurred for campaigns, and disqualified  candidates those  who failed to submit their accounts,Malpractices  such as bribing voters, distributing liquor to voters and party workers, using Government  machinery for  compaignig during elections etc. As a result  of these reforms during the 1999 general elections in India 1488 candidates were disqualified for 3 years failing to submit their expenditure of accounts. Election Commission reviewed above 40000 expenditure accounts and disqualified 14000 candidates for false information.

It has been observed that prior to Sehan's assuming office as  Election Commissioner booth capturing was rampant in some northern states .Due to his active intervention by the end of his  tenure incidents of booth capturing got reduced drastically.He was very particular to motivate and inject confidence amongst the subordinates in order to maintain both effective and objective approach to all the issues that might confront them in the discharge of duties. The behavioral guidelines and model code of conduct used to make candidates and political parties both nervous and discomfort. The introduction of Electoral ID card mandatory was a significant achievement minimising the incidence of impersonation. and other malpractices. Article 324 of the constitution empowers Election Commission with the obligations of superintendent,direction and control over the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections to Parliament,state legislators and local Governments. 

AFTER SESHAN'S TERM

Few years after Seshan's period usual malpractices like threat of  booth capturing, misusing Government machinery utilization of money and muscle power,harassment of voters, intimidation ,using violence, capturing people from booths, frequent violations of code of conduct, casteism/ hate speech, use of religion and communalism etc thrived.Apart from electoral violence manipulation of media including social platforms, skews public opinion and divividing  the electorate were practiced.Unregulated funding channels increased the utilization of black money in elections. It has been observed that while the allowed expenditure for a Loksabha candidate is rupees 40 lakhs the average expendituiiì  spent by a candidate is rupees five crores, which may result in corruption, blackmoney and involve  unfair quid proquo followed by illegal dealings.Largely political parties preferred to give cantdateship to rich people in the place of experienced and committed party workers especially in the context of mounting election expenses. Increasing crimanalisation of politics is great concern. For instance in the 2024 elections 46% of elected members faced  criminal  charges. Despite Anti Defection Law political defections continue to thrive along with horse trading, destabilisation of Governments and distorting democratic values. 

ELECTORAL REFORMS

Electoral reforms in India should  make Indian democracy  more efficient and inclusive. promoteing free and fair elections, ideal legislators, and transparent and responsible system with minimum impact of money power in elections.  Electoral reforms in the country has been an ongoing process focusing on improving electoral systems fairness ,transparency and accountability. Such reforms are required to achieve  the great objectives free from  corruption, malpractices and inequality. Experts advocated that for tackling issues related to conduct of elections they mooted the idea of political financing or state financing of elections. In India the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) have been used since 2004 Loksabha elections. Further since 2019 EVMs have been  backed by Voter Variable Paper Audit  Trail (VVPAT) slips in all constituencies which is expected to provide greater efficiency. 

SPECIAL INTENSIVE REVISION (SIR)

According to present Election Commission "the  purpose of SIR is to include  all eligible individuals in the voters list...check and ensure each name is on the voters list. Become a part of the foundation of  democracy...Fill out the forms given by the booth level officers (BLOs).Hand over the filled forms to the BLOs and collect the list.As per Article 326 of the constitution of India the eligibility for voters dependent on 1.Citizen of India.2 . Attained at least 18 years of age. 3. The person is ordinarily resident in that particular constituency and 4.Not disqualified under the law.Previously electoral roll revisions were conducted in 1952-56,1957,1961,1965,1966,1983-84,1987-89,1992,1993,1995,2002,2003 and 2004 in various parts of the country. Recently Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission to ensure  no eligible voter is excluded, particularly after  concerns raised during Bihar's Pilot Project. With regard to ongoing SIR Opposition parties raise their concern that " if the voter does not provide any document they will be required to fill form 6 application during the claims and objection period. But eventually after the publication of draft rolls they  fear that the chances of inclusion of such person appears to be remote.Similarly after enumeration  BLOs will make recommendations to Electoral Roll officers who in turn will make decisions  for inclusion or exclusion in the next month's scheduled release of the the final rolls,Howeve,In short the supremacy of India's Digital revolution should be adeqately explloited to provide greater transparency and efficiency in the electoral process so as India can become the real mother of world democracy. Important records of each election including VVPAT should be retained for a specific period so as to meet the requirements  and to display the transparency of the system. If found relevant try to  emulate the decisions of former election commissioner TN Seshan and try to restore the glory of the constitutional body and attempt to clarify the genuine enquiries made by any political party ,candidate or voter. 

 CONCLUSION 

The remedy in tackling these issues require  a concerted approach by  Election Commission. Government, political parties and people.To create confidence among the people Election Commission must prove its impartiality, transparency, accountability and credibility to all stake holders including opposition parties big or small, fresh voters, Governments and people at large. Removal of all types of malpractices must be implemented on a warfooting. Candidates background information including education, assets, criminal background if any  etc must be made public.Extreme bias in the reporting of social media must be monitored and if required may be regulated. State funding of elections if implemented can drastically reduce the role of money and muscle power in politics.Impartial and objective appointment procedures for Election Commissioner and adequate reforming of Anti defection law are most important in reforming electoral rules.Despite the reported costs advantage for " one nation one election" the author  support separate elections for nation ,states and local bodies  because of the underlying factors namely customs traditions and cultural  diversity  and their spirits are different and highly regional/ local in charector.Digtial technology should be effectively utilized so as to make electoral process more transparent, foolproof and efficient to store not only current database but also provide archives and store past data.

.