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How Election Commission runs poll machinery
Why in news?
- A war of words has broken out between Mamata Banerjee and the Election Commission, with Mamata questioning the latter’s decision to transfer four senior police officers in her state, and the EC responding that it is within its rights to act against police officers on poll duty.
More in news
- Does the EC have its own team for conducting an election?(1) EC has a separate secretariat headquartered in Delhi, but this set-up is not enough to conduct elections, especially on the scale of the Lok Sabha polls.(2) The EC secretariat has roughly 400 officers.(3) They are of the level of deputy election commissioners, director general, director, senior principal secretary, principal secretary, under-secretary and section officers, among others.
- How does the Commission get the manpower to conduct elections?(1) Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the President or the Governor of a state is obliged to provide all “such staff as may be necessary” for the EC to conduct elections, not just in the state concerned, but outside as well.(2) Commission maintained it has the prerogative to determine the number of staffs required to conduct free and fair elections, the Centre felt it was for the government to decide how much staff it could spare.(3) The Commission petitioned the Supreme Court, which decided that the EC and the government should jointly decide the staff and paramilitary forces required for conduct of elections. Since then, it has always been done through mutual consultation.
- Are there exceptions to who can be drafted for making poll arrangements?(1) There are 10 categories of government officers and employees that are exempted from election duty:(2) These are senior officers of the Indian Forest Service; doctors and compounders working in veterinary hospitals; Grade B officers of veterinary hospitals; territorial staff of the forest departments; All India Radio employees; Doordarshan employees; officers/staff of commercial banks located in rural areas which happen to be a single-officer branch; and a person retiring in six months.
- What is the EC’s disciplinary control over the electoral machinery?(1) Under the Representation of the People Act, all staff roped in for making election arrangements in their respective states and outside are deemed to be on deputation to the EC and are subject to its control and discipline.(2) For instance, a state police officer drafted for poll duty will be under the EC’s control from the date elections are notified till the results are announced.(3) State Chief Secretaries, Home Secretaries and Directors-General of Police are also understood be under the Commission’s disciplinary control during poll season.(4) In 2000, at the Supreme Court’s behest, the EC and the Centre mutually agreed on the former’s disciplinary control over the election machinery.(5) The disciplinary functions of the Election Commission of India over officers, staff and police deputed to perform election duty during election period shall extend to:
- Suspending any officer/police personnel for insubordination of dereliction of duty.
- Substituting any officer by another such person and returninSourceIndian express.