: Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan has called for concurrent elections to the Parliament, Assemblies and even local bodies across India so that developmental work remains unaffected by the model code of conduct in force during polls.
Addressing State Election Commissioners (SECs) at their 24th All India Conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Narasimhan also mooted restricting by-elections to constituencies to twice in a year — January and June. Although he began by stating that his views were based on the perceptions, suggestions and complaints he has been receiving from people, Mr. Narasimhan made no bones about where he stood on these issues.
‘Arrest money power’Going further, the A.P. governor called for a single voters’ list based on Aadhaar, and wondered about the need to maintain separate lists for different elections, adding, “The Representation of People’s Act should also be made more stringent and the Prevention of Corruption Act should be included into it to arrest the money power rampant during the polls.”
“What happens to the money and vehicles seized during the elections? No one knows,” he observed, lamenting that the redressal of complaints on election-related issues was a “tedious process” with few penalties. He also did not subscribe to the proposal of having minimum educational qualifications for contesting candidates, pointing out that “common sense” was more important and that it could be “easier” for the “more educated” to beat the system.
While making voting mandatory was not possible, Mr. Narasimhan wanted the SECs to consider inserting the ‘Right to Recall’ provision at least for local bodies.
Digital initiativesThe Election Commission of India (ECI) has introduced around 5,000 tablets for block level officers to enroll voters and maintain lists on a pilot basis in Telangana and Punjab, said Election Commissioner (EC) Achal Kumar Jyothi. In fact, the EC took to digital and social media extensively in the recently held State elections.
“Not only youngsters, even rural voters have accepted the digital initiatives. Our three online modules — Samadhan (complaints redressal), Suvidha (single window permissions for meetings, transport etc.) and Sugam (management of the EC’s transport fleet, and billing) has been successful and has helped quicker decisions to be taken,” he said.
Chairman and Convenor of the SECs Committee Rakesh Mehta said the biggest democracy in the world is also the strongest democracy because of the successful conduct of the local bodies elections. The ECI was the benchmark for all SECs, he said. Telangana SEC V. Nagi Reddy, Andhra Pradesh SEC N. Ramesh Kumar and Telangana Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma also spoke.
