Relevance: GS-2: Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions, and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.

Key Phrases: India’s Democratic Model, Universal Adult Suffrage, Parliamentary Democracy, Institutionalisation of Grassroot Democracy, Internal party Politics, Election Commission, Second Wave of Democratic Reforms, External Election Monitors

Context:

• There remains a big black hole in the functioning of India’s democratic model and that is the functioning of political parties that underpins our democratic structure.
• The internal functioning and structures of an overwhelming number of these political parties are opaque and unyielding.

Evolution of Universal Adult Suffrage:

• The framers of the Constitution made a giant leap of faith when they incorporated universal adult suffrage into the design of India’s founding document and enshrined it in Article 326.
• In 1947, India’s literacy rate was only 12 per cent.
• This historic decision meant that all Indian citizens, irrespective of caste, colour, creed, sex, place of birth, or any other disability, including illiteracy, would henceforth be qualified to participate in the great Indian democratic experiment that was set to unfold in 1952.

Global Efforts for Incorporation of Universal Adult Suffrage:

• In many nations around the world, the right to vote has followed a very hard fought battle, especially for the coloured, indigenous and the poor, and more so for women.

1. United Kingdom: It was only as late as 1928 that women got the right to vote in the United Kingdom, even though the parliamentary system was established in 1215 with the creation and signing of the Magna Carta.
2. United States: It was only after the 15th amendment to the US Constitution in 1870 that African American men got the right to vote, and it was in 1920 through the 19th Amendment that women were entitled to participate in the democratic process.
   • The US Constitution was formally adopted in 1789 and the Bill of Rights that encapsulates the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution was approved way back in 1791.
3. Australia: True adult suffrage was not achieved till as late as 1967 when the Commonwealth Electoral Act extended the right to vote to all Australian citizens irrespective of race.
4. Japan: The right to vote was made universal only after it lost the Second World War in 1945.

Institutionalisation of Grassroot Democracy:

• With every election since 1952, our democracy has deepened and become more broad-based.
• In 1988, the former prime minister, late Rajiv Gandhi lowered the voting age to 18 years.
• By the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Indian Constitution, Parliament institutionalised democracy at the third tier or at the grassroots of the administrative or governance paradigm.
• It also reinforced the belief of the people in the ballot box as the principal instrument of change.
• Except for certain small areas/region like certain area of Northeast, Kashmir valley, area affected by Maoist/Naxal activities, an overwhelming number of people have developed a deep-rooted belief in the efficacy of the country's democratic system.

Role of Election Commission in the Indian Democracy:

1. Conduct of Free and Fair Elections:
   • While the Election Commission of India has the powers of superintendence, direction, and control of elections under Part XV of the Constitution of India, however, it does not extend to the supervision or superintendence of internal elections of political parties which is problematic.
2. Recognition of Political parties:
   • Under Section 29-A of the Representation of People’s Act 1951 the Commission has the powers to register a political party and not deregister it, that assertion precludes the fact that the Commission has wide-ranging powers available to it under Section 16-A of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 to either suspend or withdraw recognition to a political party as a national or state party.
3. Mandating Regular Party Election:
   • On August 13, 1996, the Election Commission in a bold initiative issued a circular to all political parties registered with it, whether national, state or unrecognised, that they must hold regular elections in accordance with their respective constitutions.
   • It issued independent notices to all the political parties registered with the Commission to send the latest information regarding their elected office bearers as per provisions and procedure in their respective constitutions along with all material and documentary evidence not later than the 1st of July 1997.

What are the issues in the functioning of the Election Commission?

1. Reluctance to act against unfair internal politics of political parties:
   • The Election Commission should seriously look into the details furnished by political parties vis-à-vis integrity and fairness of their internal organisational electoral processes and express dissent, if any.
   • It is reluctant to verify whether the claims being made by a political party are correct and honest.
2. Cultivated Myth of Lacking Power:
   • It hides behind a carefully constructed and willfully cultivated myth about its lack of powers to escape from its own mandate in the Arjun Singh case.
   • The correct interpretation of its own mandate and powers two and a half decades back under the stewardship of Late T N Seshan has given way to inexplicable servility and reluctance to do what is necessary to correct and rectify the fundamental distortions in India's democratic paradigm.

Conclusion:

• The time has come for the Election Commission to ensure through the appointment of external election monitors and other innovative mechanisms that the internal democratic processes of all political parties play out in a just, fair, and credible manner.
• Only when the underpinning is truly democratic, the great Indian democratic experiment blooms in its true glory.
• That is the second wave of democratic reforms that India desperately needs.

Source: The Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. Discuss the issues with the functioning of the Election Commission of India and that of the political parties that underpin our democratic structure. (250 words).