Question

Imagine yourself as ‘Election Commissioner’ - What changes would you bring in the vote polling system during the General Election?

Answer 1

Answer:

ok i will change the system

yes

yes

yes

I will be Election commissioner

Answer 2

Answer:

Steps being taken by the Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections in Jammu & Kashmir.

1. With a view to ensuring that the next J&K Assembly elections shall be among the fairest in the history of the State, the Election Commission chose to interactively engage with all the players in the electoral process, viz., recognised political parties in J&K State, the local press and government officials, particularly, field functionaries who conduct elections, many months in advance. The main objectives were to have a sound system in place, to create an atmosphere for competitive elections and impart a sense of security to intending parties and candidates.
2. To this end, the Chief Election Commissioner, alongwith Election Commissioner, Shri B.B. Tandon, and accompanied by a team of Election Commission officials, had visited both Jammu and Srinagar and held detailed discussions with representatives of all recognised political parties in J&K State, members of the press and the concerned officials, including Deputy Commissioners of districts, in March, 2002. Thereafter, officials from the Commission have been making visits to the State every month to observe on ground that the directives of the Commission are actually being followed and implemented. The last important visit took place towards the end of May, when Election Commissioner, Shri T.S. Krishna Murthy, along with the concerned Secretary in the Election Commission dealing with the J&K State, went to Srinagar.
3. The first task that the Commission carried out in its March visit was to disabuse the people that just because they were visiting Kashmir, the elections were around the corner. All concerned were told in emphatic terms that the elections were a long way off and large number of management inputs were to be put in place before they would be held. They were also told that repeated visits to the State shall take place so that the Commission drives information on a first hand basis about the nature of implementation on ground of its directives. Finally, it was clearly spelled out that it is the Commission and Commission alone which shall decide on the dates and schedule of elections.
4. The inputs received from the political parties have been most helpful to the Commission in charting out its course of action to ensure a good election in the State. All the political parties had complained that the electoral rolls were inaccurate, containing within them large number of dead voters, that they were unwieldy as they contained a large number of supplementaries and that they were in large parts not legible due to repeated photocopies. The political parties also urged the Commission to issue identity cards to voters to prevent bogus voting. They wanted the existing polling station locations to be rationalised so that voters don’t have to travel over long distances. Finally, when they were informed that this time the elections would be conducted through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), they welcomed it as EVMs totally rule out any abuse in the counting of votes.
5. Based on its interactions with different groups in J&K State, the Commission has so far taken measures in the following areas with a view to bringing about good election practices during polls in the J&K State. They are :-

• Making available to all concerned in the State clean, legible, computerised electoral rolls of high accuracy, which would form the basis for the electorate to cast their franchise.
• Issuing directions to the law and order authorities to ensure that there is a measure of equity amongst recognised political parties in getting security cover so that their election campaign can take place on an equitable basis.Issuance of photo identity cards to voters in State.

 6.  The points enumerated above show the efforts being made by the Commission in ensuring good and clean elections in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. However, some amount of elaboration is necessary on the two points of computerisation of electoral rolls and issuance of photo identity cards. Due to a variety of reasons, the primary one being unrest in the Valley, the electoral rolls of the State were last intensively revised in 1988. Thereafter, they have been revised, more or less every year, on a summary basis. Thus, over a period of 14 years, the rolls have generated a large number of supplements of inclusions, deletions and correction and have become unwieldy and lacking in accuracy. Moreover, the rolls have been hand-written and photo-copied from time to time whenever summary revisions took place or elections or bye-elections were held as a result of which a large mass of illegible paper reached both the polling stations and the political parties and formed the basis for the voting which took place. This was the common complaint made by all political parties when the Commission made the aforesaid visit to the State in March, 2002.