Give Election Commission ‘more power and ensure cross-party inclusion’

The IPMIE (Independent Panel for Monitoring Indian Elections), an independent, multi-national panel of experts, academics and bureaucrats, has recommended three immediate steps to ensure the integrity of elections in India. The panel has been monitoring Indian elections, and published 11 weekly bulletins and three reports documenting violations of electoral integrity during the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The increasing erosion of electoral integrity and concerns about the electoral process have been voiced earlier by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Mumbai-based group Vote for Democracy, and have been joined by IPMIE in demanding that steps be taken to restore that integrity.

The Mumbai-based group, which comprises academics from various disciplines including mathematics, computer science and statistics, had alleged a mismatch of 5 crore votes between the votes polled and the votes counted. It had alleged that the mismatch had helped the BJP win as many as 79 seats in the Lok Sabha, which it would have lost otherwise.

The final recommendation of the IPMIE released on 30 August mentions the three following steps to strengthen the process:   

1. Bring the Election Commission of India under the direct oversight of Parliament; amend rules to guarantee cross-party inclusion and representation in appointments to the ECI, and grant enhanced powers to the ECI to regulate political parties and impose stricter penalties for violations of the model code of conduct

2. Allow judicial review of election-related decisions taken by the government and ECI, amend laws to prevent gerrymandering of constituencies in future delimitation exercises and ensure public disclosure of all financial contributions received by political parties. Also, amend electoral laws to strengthen the independence of the ECI and empower it.

3. Make the voting process verifiable and transparent, ensure the role of civil society in revising and updating draft electoral rolls and ensure that data pertaining to EVMs and elections are made available in real time.

The insistence on non-counting of VVPAT slips, widespread complaints of manipulation and malpractices were noticed by the IPMIE and other groups. They had also flagged voter-repression and intimidation by the State, misuse of central government agencies ahead of elections.

The IPMIE documented 287 instances of hate speech, including 61 by PM Modi, during the General Election, demonising Muslims. The mainstream media remained noticeably partisan and ‘shadow advertisers’ pushed disinformation on social media platforms, ‘seemingly on behalf of the BJP’, a statement issued by the panel pointed out. The ECI, the statement added, appeared largely to act like an arm of the government by refusing to take decisive action against violations of the MCC and electoral laws by members of the ruling party.

The panel also noted the ‘less than adequate’ response from the higher judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court of India, to petitions seeking remedies to various weaknesses in the electoral process.