How Free and Fair?

By presiding over processes that narrow democratic participation, the Election Commission of India betrays the very idea of universal adult suffrage

- By Manoj Kumar Jha IS A RASHTRIYA JANATA DAL RAJYA SABHA MP AND THE AUTHOR OF IN PRAISE OF COALITION POLITICS AND OTHER ESSAYS ON INDIAN DEMOCRACY

RECENTLY, I wrote a letter on behalf of the first Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India to the present one, citing the challenges the first CEC had faced while conducting the first general elections in 1951-52 when the republic was still nascent, scarred by the Partition, burdened by illiteracy, and unfamiliar with the idea of universal adult franchise. Yet, the Indian people reposed an unshakeable faith in the electoral process because they believed that the institution conducting it would act with fairness, firmness and full independence from the Executive of the day.

The Election Commission of India (ECI), as a body created by the Constitution, is entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the sanctity of democracy. It is supposed to be the custodian of free and fair elections, a role central to the very basics of the constitutional scheme. The ECI is not just another administrative authority. It was envisioned by the creators of the Constitution as the sentinel of Indian democracy, the institution that would stand above politics and protect the sanctity of the people's mandate. Its legitimacy comes not from the government of the day but from the Constitution itself, and from the millions of citizens who trust that their vote will be counted, without fear or favour. The right to vote is not the government's gift to citizens. It is the people's birthright, secured by the Constitution. No institution, not even the ECI, has the authority to diminish it. However, when the same institution, through mechanisms such as Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, begins to operate in a way that appears exclusionary, partisan, or opaque, it undermines the very foundations it was created to defend. Besides, other collateral damage erodes the faith of the voters in an institution which was created to uphold the trust of the people.

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