With just two phases of polling left, India is amidst the election frenzy. The electoral plane by and large is already dotted with the usual basket of incidents ranging from poll violence, EVM malfunctioning, intense polarization of people by political leaders, mud-slinging amongst political candidates among others. Amidst the usual, however it is the issue of credibility of the Election Commission (EC) that cuts through the lot like a splinter.Regarded as one of the country’s apex institutions, the EC is a formidable and autonomous institution, responsible for administering the election process in the country, since the first General Elections.
Unsurprisingly, during the 2019 general elections,the EC has come under intense scrutiny, in the wake of multiple incidents that allegedly involved a breach of the Moral Code of Conduct(MCC), particularly those committed by the ruling party. On April 8 2019, 66 former bureaucratswrote to President Kovind expressing their anguish about the conduct of the EC. The letter specifically uses words such as the “weak-kneed conduct” of the institution, thereby unprecedently challenging the credibility of the constitutional body.
Against this backdrop, one cannot help but be reminded of Lant Pritchett’s notion of a “flailing state.” In one of his papers titled the “Is India a Flailing state? Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization,” he remarks that “India today is a flailing state, a nation state in which the head that is the elite institutions at the national and (in some states level) remain sound and functional but this head is no longer reliably connected via nerves and sinews to its’ own limbs.”
Drawing from Pritchett’s remarks, in the present scenario,one is forced to reflect upon whetheror not, the health of India’s elite institutions is deteriorating. The clean chit given by the EC to PM Modi on his “Bhrashtachari Number 1” remark against Rajiv Gandhi is a recent example. Though by penalising Azam Khan, Maneka Gandhi, and Yogi Adityanath among others, the EC has shown resolve to reassert its constitutional authority, this does not suffice when it comes to the EC’s image of upholding the MCC.
Given the state of these concerns,it is necessary to implore deeper into the issue of credibility. One strand of this includes the flawed system of appointment of election commissioner. According to the Article 324 in the Constitution of India 1949, the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioner are appointed by the President, subject to the provision of any law made by the Parliament. This suggests that such constitutional appointments by and large become political in nature. So, for the sake of the effective functioning of the EC, depoliticisation of constitutional appointments must take place which could be done via broad-based consultations.
As per the latest Democracy index released by the Economist, presenting a snapshot of the state of the world democracy for 165 independent states and two union territories , India is in the “flawed democracy” category. Where India is considered as the largest democracy in the world, such incidence serves to push down its image. Hence, where elections form the bedrock of democracy and the EC’s credibility is central to democratic legitimacy, it is imperative for the EC to effectively assert its constitutional authority.
The image used is for representative purposes only.
India Outbound
May 10, 2019
source https://indiaoutbound.org/the-election-comissions-credibility-looms-in-crisis/
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