Election Commission in Need of Reforms

Context: The delay and chaos in the United States presidential elections have brought into focus the effectiveness of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Issues with the ECI: 

• Inability to withstand political pressure: from the ruling dispensation and little alleged consideration meted out to opposition.
• Functioning without a legal expert: 
• Contract of ECI’s legal expert ended in 2019, without a successor. 
• ECI’s order regarding violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by political leaders is often stayed by Courts. 
• Curbing of powers by judiciary: 
• For, E.g. The apex court recently stayed the ECI order to revoke ‘star campaigner’ status of a political leader.
• In the Bhagwati Prasad Dixit Ghorewala vs Rajiv Gandhi case(1986), the Supreme Court (SC) had rejected the contention that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) should have the same qualifications as those of a judge of the SC.

Way Forward

• Democratic and transparent selection: Appointment of CEC and ECs through a collegium system to bring more credibility and reduce political biases

• Dinesh Goswami Committee: ECI selection by a panel consisting of PM, CJI and Leader of Opposition (LOP) in the Lok Sabha (LS).
• Retired SC judge as CEC: Powers of ECI is wide enough to be compared with an SC judge because of following reasons:
• ECI’s advice is binding on the President and Governors,
• Due to its quasi-judicial functions like disqualification of MPs and MLAs and interpretation of rules in Representation of People’s Act (RPA).

Conclusion: Indifferent government and lacklustre public opinion have put the efficacy of ECI to hold free and fair elections issue on the backburner.