For the common man, the entire election process seems like a simple matter of casting a vote but the sheer enormity of the process is quite mind-boggling. We have an electorate of about 71 crore people and the Election Commission is committed to ensuring that our reach is 100 per cent. Every vote counts. You know that in the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls last year, two candidates lost by one vote each. That’s why we had a polling booth in Gujarat for one voter which meant that while the voter could come to vote at his leisure, the team of five polling staff members had to set up shop at 7 a.m. as per the law and leave only at 5 p.m., in case someone else turned up challenging that one person’s vote. In Chhattisgarh, we had one polling booth for two voters and in Arunachal Pradesh, we had one booth with three voters. About 70 lakh people are deputed under the Election Commission which is responsible for their postings and the internal discipline. Our own staff at Nirvachan Sadan is very small—about 300—apart from the state Chief Electoral Officers who have a staff of about 8-9 people each. There are 1.5 million balloting units or Electronic Voter Machine (EVMs) that were used and we had to ensure that they all worked. Four lakh vehicles, including two lakh buses, are being used in this election to ferry election staff to the polling stations. We used about 80 helicopters taken from the Ministry of Defence and the Home Ministry.

Some of our polling parties have to travel over 40 km for three days through hilly and difficult terrains infested by militants and Naxalites to reach on time. We initiated a new and elaborate communication plan, perhaps unique in the world, called Communication for Election Tracking (COMET) by which each of the 8,28,804 polling stations was connected. We had phone numbers and back-ups, VHF and high frequency sets for areas that did not have mobile phone networks and more than 100 satellite phones borrowed from the Ministry of Defence and Home Ministry.

Security was a major concern and there was a demand for central police forces as people consider them to be more reliable. We used nearly one lakh security personnel for each phase. The movement of security forces itself is a mind-boggling exercise and we had to run 90 special trains, besides 500 coaches attached to normal trains to carry our security forces across the country. Charting out their deployment plans is also a huge exercise.

We have special voting facilities for displaced people, camp voting facilities for refugees of Jammu and Kashmir at three places outside the state. We also had camps in Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Nagaland and Madhya Pradesh. In Kandhamal, we had six camps and there was 90 per cent polling as a result of our security arrangements.

Given problems like Maoist attacks, the separatists of Manipur and J&K, the trouble in dacoit-infested areas of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Rajasthan, besides criminals in many areas we have introduced a new concept of ‘Vulnerability Mapping’, initiated since the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Then there’s the Model Code of Conduct which is a very important tool of monitoring and managing elections. It is not a law; it is a voluntary set of rules created by the political parties themselves in consultation with us which they have agreed to follow in letter and spirit. The Supreme Court, while hearing some petitions, had put a stamp of authority on it, directing the enforcement of the model code and we have zero tolerance in its enforcement.

•Vandita Mishra: The polls had a violent start and there was criticism that perhaps the Naxalite-affected areas should not have been clubbed together in the first phase.

This allegation is totally wrong. In fact we are very happy about the way we planned it. We decided to keep all the Maoist affected areas together in one phase, keeping in mind the movement of our own forces. They (the Maoists) can move faster than our forces as they know the area like the back of their hand. As you know, there are six to seven days between phases. Once a polling phase is over, the machines are moved first, then the forces are disengaged and they have to travel to the next phase. This gives them barely two days to study the terrain and do what we call ‘area domination’. We thought that if we conducted the polls in the Naxalite areas in phase one, we would be able to send our forces there at least a month in advance for them to dominate the areas. Since most Maoist areas have a very difficult terrain, we also kept the timing for voting till 3 p.m., instead of 5 p.m. to ensure that everyone returned from the polling booth to a safe area in daylight. Out of the 1,86,000 polling booths for the first phase, 71,000 polling booths were in Naxalite affected areas. And nearly 7,10,000 staff members whose routes, timings etc., were known to all beforehand, could be sitting ducks. In this scenario, apart from the unfortunate few deaths, we managed to conduct the polls quite successfully in the first phase as in the subsequent three phases.

•Unni Rajen Shanker: What is the EC’s purpose of removing the chief minister’s photograph from his office or the PM’s picture from the Press Information Bureau website? 

A level playing field has to be provided and usually the ruling party has an advantage. As per the model code of conduct for the elections, public property cannot be used for propaganda and if a chief minister has his/her photo on a hoarding or a calendar, he has an advantage others don’t have. Such photos are removed to ensure a level playing field.

•Seema Chishti: But you have taken the fun out of campaigning. This was the one secular and national festival where money flowed, people felt good and there was an air of celebration everywhere in India. No longer. How does this drabness imply a more disciplined kind of election?

What do you mean by fun? What have we stopped? The ‘fun’ used to be that your walls would be painted with ‘vote for XYZ’ signs, which you would have to remove at your own cost. There used to be blaring loudspeakers, disturbing the elderly and children studying late at night. There used to be a cavalcade of cars, sometimes 1,000 cars, accompanying the candidate to file his nomination papers causing public nuisance and traffic jams unnecessarily. There are Acts against defacement and pollution in every state, Acts that say this kind of nuisance must not be allowed. It is supposed to be implemented round the year, but no one bothers. We do, and insist that all the concerned existing laws must be obeyed. Some restrictions are also there to ensure proper accounting for expenditure (restricted to Rs 25 lakh for Lok Sabha elections).

•Vinay Sitapati: The turnout in Mumbai was 45 per cent and in Delhi 53 per cent. What do you think went right in Delhi and wrong in Mumbai?

Mumbai used to have even less voting. This time, people are talking about percentages because there has been a culture of consciousness raised through the Pappu campaign in Delhi, the Jago Re campaign and the Association of Democratic Reforms and the National Election Watch. It is our standing grouse that the so-called educated in cities don’t vote but in their drawing rooms conversations they curse and criticise the government. ‘Not voting’ was even a fashion statement. But the education campaigns created such an impact that people are now showing their dotted finger to show that they are not ‘pappus’. It generated a consciousness in which not voting attracted a sense of shame and embarrassment. The message went home. While deciding the poll dates, we also ensured that the polling date was not on a Friday or Monday, so that people did not combine them with the weekend and take off on a holiday without voting!

•Maneesh Chibber: Was the Election Commission consulted over the issue of IPL matches being shifted out of the country? What was your stand?

Our stand was clear: We had nothing to do with the IPL. Personally, both N. Gopalaswami and I are fond of cricket. But as far as EC is concerned, we had asked the Home Ministry for a certain number of security forces. We said just give us the required force and do what you like. The Home Ministry did a thorough job of providing the maximum available forces, although we didn’t get as much we wanted which is why we conducted the poll in five phases. But obviously, if there is a contest between the Indian election and a business venture of some persons, however entertaining it may be, do you think there is a choice?

•Raj Kamal Jha: Did the government ever ask you for your views on the IPL?

No. You must realise that this was a question of the security of about seven million polling staff and millions of voters. The stakes are very high and nothing should jeopardise the safety of the people.

•Samir Kumar: Is there a provision in Section 49(O) of our Constitution by which a person can decide not to vote? If there is, why is it that there is no awareness about it among our polling officers?

There is no section 49 (O) in the Constitution. Article 49 is about the preservation of monuments! But there is a Rule 49 (O) in our election rules since 1992. If you decide not to vote, you can register yourself under Rule 49 (O) for the record and to avoid bogus voting. But this reveals the choice exercised by the voter and is no longer a secret—this could be used against the voter. So we have suggested to the government to amend the law and perhaps provide an additional column on the balloting unit.

•Coomi Kapoor: Declaration of assets is a futile exercise because there have been no prosecutions so far for declaring false assets and there are no norms laid down for how to declare your assets. Shouldn’t this process be tightened?

The law says that the returning officer has no power to reject a wrong declaration, the logic being that he cannot make an assessment of the property. So the Supreme Court said the RO has no right to reject the declaration. But it does not stop here: the affidavit is put on the notice board and anyone can access the affidavit, including the rival political parties and take it up with the Election Commission if the assessment is found incorrect. A false affidavit is liable for legal action.

•Coomi Kapoor: You have been described as the man in the middle. In most decisions taken by the Election Commission, Mr Gopalaswami has been on one end, Mr Navin Chawla on the other end and you have cast the deciding vote. Do you agree with this assessment? 

The Election Commission, which conducts the biggest democratic exercise in the world, is entitled to some democracy within its own set up. We are three thinking and experienced people, so we may have different points of view. We try to be unanimous as far as possible, but the law provides that a majority view prevails. All three commissioners are equal, though the CEC has the additional power of chairing the meeting and being the public face. There were occasional differences of perception and in those cases we decided by majority. But the decisions we arrived at in the last three years turned out to be perfect in all the elections conducted during that period.

•Maneesh Chibber: In Mr Gopalaswami’s note to the President, he has made several references to you and it seems that you and Mr Gopalaswami were usually on one side vis-à-vis Mr Chawla. He also mentioned that you were under some amount of pressure. Is that true? Also what is your view on his second note about election commissioners not taking up jobs post retirement? 

I read the note only recently after he retired and gave the file to me. He has mentioned the issues I supported him on, but may not have mentioned the instances when that was not the case. I think it was just a narration of some instances, but there were decisions taken when Mr Chawla and I were on the same side, opposite Mr Gopalaswami. As for pressure, everyone knows that I cannot be pressurised. On the post-retirement positions, I think he has a point because our independence is extremely vital for the functioning of our democracy. Though the Constitution or the law does not debar us from taking up any post, I think it is a good idea to avoid any sort of expectation, even remotely. But at the same time, there could be compensation for the person being debarred from taking up a post-retirement job.

•Vandita Mishra: There has been talk of making voting compulsory and even the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate has advocated it. Do you favour compulsory voting?

The suggestion has been there for years and we have also analysed countries where it happens—Australia and Argentina jail their citizens for not voting. My personal view is that democracy and compulsory voting cannot go together. Democracy is about making informed choices and we should ensure that maximum people come out to vote, encouraged by positive campaigning. But this is a serious issue that calls for a national debate.

•Radhika Sachdeva: Why are there so many errors in our voter I-cards?

There are many errors because of the temporary machinery employed and the enormity of the task. Many times, errors occur in translation. We are trying to ensure 100 per cent accuracy but for the time being, we have allowed for minor errors to be ignored, besides permitting 13 alternative identification documents.

(Transcribed by Aanchal Bansal)