General Elections 2024 - The Largest Festival of Democracy and Certain Operational Issues

General elections are being held in India to elect 543 members of the 18^th Lok Sabha.  Simultaneously, elections to the state legislative assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim are also being held in addition to by-elections to several assembly constituencies in different States. The election schedule for the 18^th Lok Sabha was announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on 16 March 2024, which brought the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) into effect.  The elections are scheduled to take place in seven phases, starting from 19 April to 1 June 2024.  And, results will be declared on 4 June 2024.  The election schedule has been made keeping in view that the tenure of the 17^th Lok Sabha ends on 16 June 2024 and the new Government should take charge by then, to avoid interregnum.    

About 970 million people out of a population of 1.4 billion in the country are eligible to vote.  There is an increase of approximately 150 million voters from the General Elections, 2019.  For conducting the elections, more than one million polling stations are set up and more than 5 million Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are made ready.  About 15 million election staff and security personnel are deployed to ensure the smooth conduct of the elections as well as to prevent unpleasant occasions like booth capturing and violence. Such is the magnitude of preparations for the largest festival of democracy in the world.  

According to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, election campaign activities through public meetings and processions and display of election matters using Television and similar platforms shall be prohibited during the ‘silence period’, the final 48 hours before polling.  This enables the voters to make an ‘informed decision to vote’ without being ‘overtly’ influenced or coaxed by the ‘sound and fury’ of the campaign. After the polling, the EVMs are sealed, stored, and transported to the centralized counting centres which should have adequate security measures. This happens in the presence of booth agents / authorized representatives of the candidates to maintain transparency, accountability, and credibility of the election process.

In this article, certain key issues connected with the election process are discussed. In doing so, a comparison has been made with the General Elections held in 2009, 2014, and 2019.  

Firstly, it is about the increase in the election duration.  When one calculates from the date of notification of the elections in the first phase (20 March 2024) to the date of declaration of election results (4 June 2024), it is about 76 days.  However, when one counts from the date of poll in the first phase (19 April 2024) to the date of poll in the seventh phase (1 June 2024), it is around 43 days.  This duration was 38 days in the General Elections 2019, 35 days in the General Elections 2014, and 27 days in the General Elections 2009.  This data indicates that with each General Election, the election duration has increased, though it could not be linked with the rise in the number of voters.  

Secondly, the number of phases in the election schedule have increased as well.  General Elections 2024 are being held in seven phases.  As per the schedule, in 15 States and seven Union Territories, the elections are held in a single phase.  whereas in three States, the elections are spread into seven phases.  Details about the General Elections 2019 showed that the elections were held in seven phases, in 2014, it was in ten phases, and in 2009, it was held in five phases only.

Thirdly, the gap between one phase of the election to the next has risen. It was observed that the gap ranges between 5 – 11 days during the General Elections 2024. In the election schedule, the gap between Phase 2 and Phase 3 is the longest.  In contrast, it ranges between 5-7 days in 2019, 1-7 days in 2014, and 6-7 days in 2009.  One could find that by each general election, the gap between one phase to the other is increasing with the exception of the General Elections 2014 where the elections were held in ten phases.

About 15 million election staff and security personnel are deployed for the smooth conduct of elections in 2024, which is significantly higher than in the past.  The security personnel are required to maintain the safety of the EVMs in the strong rooms starting from the day prior to the polling to the day of counting.  The longer the duration of the election schedule, the longer will be the need for deployment of the security personnel.  A shorter duration may reduce the deployment of a huge contingent of security personnel during the election process.   

More importantly, the General Election schedule coincides with the peak summer season where the temperature hovers around 40 degrees in many parts of the country.  Climate change has raised the mean temperature by a few degrees, thus increasing the risk of heat waves across the country.  Yet, the same cycle has been followed for conduct of the elections.  This schedule may have been consistently followed to fulfill the constitutional mandate of conducting elections, before the completion of the five-year term of the Lok Sabha.  

Considering the adverse weather and the associated issues as well as the long duration of the election process (76 days in 2024), running into several phases, the April-May months turn out to be the most hostile period for the electorate.  One could find a manifold increase in energy consumption during the peak summer months as compared to other months.  These aspects result in an increase in the overall election-related expenses.  It cannot be neglected that carrying out the high-decibel election campaign in this peak summer season adversely affects the health of the candidates and other stakeholders equally. Several cases were reported from different parts of the country where many candidates, star campaigners, and senior leaders fainted during the election campaigns.  And, it is most likely that several cases of party workers who faced health issues during the long election campaign may also be high as they are made to plan and operationalize the house-to-house visits, corner meetings, public rallies, road shows, etc. in the scorching heat.  This may have influenced the polling percentage in the completed phases of elections now when compared to the 2019 General Elections. 

In this context, I wish to appeal to the stakeholders of the election process that, necessary efforts are taken to ensure that the whole election process be completed in one month by aligning the number of phases and the gap between the phases suitably.  The possibility of preponing the General Elections by at least two months from the schedule followed at present may be considered seriously, completing the election schedule in  February itself.  One major opposition to this proposal may be the possibility of its impact on the schedule of academic institutions as the teachers form a key section of the Government staff who are deployed in election duties.  When planned sufficiently in advance, this could be easily tackled without causing any disturbance to the academic environment.

It is pertinent to note that the Constitution of India allows the conduct of General Elections within six months before the term of the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies expire.   And there is such precedence about the preponement of General Elections and elections to the State Legislative Assemblies.  The conduct of elections in February will also provide adequate time for the new Government to present the full budget without resorting to the procedures of the vote on account and interim budget.  It is hoped that such an act will be quite beneficial to streamline the socio-economic-political ecosystem in India.  It will also enhance the physiological and psychological health of all key stakeholders connected with the election process.  Before we deliberate on serious electoral reforms like ‘One Nation, One Election’, such operational  issues should be prioritised.

About the Author:

 

 

 

 

Dr. K Gireesan, Director, MIT School of Government, MIT World Peace University, Kothrud, Pune

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha