India 2018

46 India 2018
A new Part IX relating to the panchayats was inserted in the Constitution
to provide for among other things, Gram Sabha in a village or group of villages;
constitution of panchayats at village and other level or levels; direct elections
to all seats in panchayats at the village and intermediate level, if any, and to
the offices of Chairpersons of panchayats at such levels; reservation of seats
for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in proportion to their population
for membership of panchayats and office of Chairpersons in panchayats at
each level; reservation of not less than one-third of the seats for women; fixing
tenure of five years for panchayats and holding elections within a period of six
months in the event of supersession of any panchayat.
Election Commission
The Election Commission of India (ECI) was constituted in 1950 with its
headquarters at New Delhi. It is a permanent independent constitutional body
vested with the powers and responsibility of superintendence, direction and
control of the entire process of conduct of elections to Parliament and to
legislatures of the states and the union territories and elections to the offices of
President and Vice-President held under the Constitution.
The Election Commission decides the election schedules for the conduct
of elections —both general elections and bye-elections. It prepares, maintains
and periodically updates the electoral rolls, supervises the nomination of
candidates, registers political parties, monitors the election campaign, including
funding and expenditure of candidates. It also facilitates the coverage of the
election process by the media, carries out the voter education and awareness
measures, organizes the polling stations/ booths where voting takes place,
and oversees the counting of votes and the declaration of results. It conducts
polling through EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) and recently, on pilot basis,
introduced VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail). The Election
Commission has also provided for compulsory identification at the time of
voting by means of Electors’ Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) and distribution of
photo slip close to polls.
Elections are conducted according to the constitutional provisions,
supplemented by laws made by Parliament. The major laws are the Presidential
and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952; the Representation of the People Act,
1950; and the Representation of the People Act, 1951. All political parties are
required to get themselves registered with the Election Commission. Based on
performance criteria laid down in the Elections Symbols (reservation &
allotment) Order 1968, the Commission grants recognition to political parties
as national or state parties. It also decides disputes relating to splits/mergers
of recognized political parties.
At the state level, the election work is supervised, subject to overall control
of the Commission, by the Chief Electoral Officer of the state, who is appointed
by the Commission by selection from amongst senior civil servants of the state
government. Field administration at the district and sub-divisional levels in
India is run by the District Magistrates (Deputy Commissioners/Collectors),