Electoral Roll Integrity and the ECI: A Crisis of Transparency and Trust
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Indian Polity and Governance (Constitutional Bodies - ECI, Elections, Electoral Rolls, Supreme Court, Role of Political Parties); Representation of the People Act.
Mains:
General Studies Paper 2 (Polity & Governance): Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act; Powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies (ECI, Judiciary); Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability; Role of political parties in a democracy.
Key Highlights from the News
Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the incident in Karnataka's Aland constituency raise serious questions about the transparency and accuracy of India's electoral rolls.
The article criticizes the Election Commission of India (ECI) for not being proactive in these matters and adopting a reactive approach, responding only under pressure from courts or political parties.
In Aland, Karnataka, thousands of fake Form-7 applications (applications to remove names) were submitted to remove names of legitimate voters from the electoral roll.
ECI's reluctance to provide transparent information and cooperate with investigations leads to a trust deficit between political parties and the Commission.
The article demands that the ECI take proactive steps to ensure the purity of electoral rolls and introduce new security mechanisms to prevent the misuse of forms like Form-7.
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