Desh ka tyohaar, Celebration of Democracy....

Desh ka tyohaar, Celebration of Democracy....

I reached Vigyan Bhavan at Delhi in right earnest yesterday for my training as an Election Observer. This would be the fourth time I was going but the scene at the registration desk every time is of carmederie, with friends and batchmates meeting, finding out the constituency to which they are posted. An air of enthusiasm is always there. More so this time as even the Election Commission has named the Lok Sabha elections as "Desh Ka Tyohaar",
India has always been looked up to as an icon by other democratic countries. Elections are conducted every 5 years but with each passing year the process has become more refined.
No doubts, it was Mr.T.N.Seshan who gave free and fair elections the face it has in India today. The efforts he made to strictly enforce the code of conduct will never be forgotten. However in the past few years, a definite advancement and improvement in the conduct of elections has certainly taken place. Effective steps have been inititaed to make it more scientific and inclusive.
While enrolment as a voter is a continuous process and revision of rolls is done every year, people take it seriously only after declaration of polls. It is the responsibility of the voter to ensure his name is in the rolls but most of us rarely do it. And then begins the blame game if their names are omitted or deleted in the rolls. The ECI has therefore made a number of apps not only to create awareness but to make voters  more vigilant and ensure their name is not  excluded, deleted or omitted from the voters list. So we now have a helpline 1950, a website , www.nvsp.in, various apps like #GoVerify, # GoCall, # GoRegister, # GoVote.
These proactive measures speak a lot about the sincerity and seriousness of the ECI to ensure that elections are more and more inclusive.
Just as efforts are made to have error free rolls , efforts are also made to have the best people working for the conduct of elections. Requisitioning of staff is done carefully and efforts are also made to train them sufficiently.
Most government servants and officials get an opportunity to participate in this jamboree at least once in their service period.
The election law being succinct and clear, conduct of elections is like operating a well oiled machine. The roles and responsibilities being specific makes things easy.
The Election Commission came into existence one day before India became a Republic under article 324 of the constitution. About 500 people work for it. However, once the elections are announced, officers and staff from all departments are requisitioned for the conduct of polls. Thus, when elections to a newly independent India were conducted in 1950 the services of about 1.3 million persons were requisitioned. Today over 11 million officials and staff are deployed for the conduct of poll.
No wonder it has become the biggest event of the globe in any democratic country.
With each passing year conduct of selections have become more demanding and challenging and therefore entail elaborate preparations.
Apart from making it free and fair, the emphasis is also on making it more transparent and inclusive. Election Observers are appointed in the constituencies to reinforce the faith of the people and the candidates on the process. It is also done to bring in the element of externality, to neutralise any element of partiality and maintain credibility of the processes.
This is also to create a unbiased, conducive atmosphere for conduct of polls, ensure law and order is maintained as also to curtail muscle power, money power and malpractices.
Efforts are also made to ensure that voters have assured minimum facilities by way of water, electricity, ramp, furniture, help desk, signages and toilet. Special efforts are made for facilitating persons with disabilities and women.
Booth level officers are appointed to reach out all voters in their homes. People can also get replies to their queries through the call centres.
Software like the ERONET for error free electoral rolls, CVIGIL citizen vigilant app to capture live violation anywhere with a facility to upload along with a brief description are revolutionary.
The Voter helpline app which gives all information to the voter about his name, polling station, way to reach has become the 7th highest rated app. A single window system, SUVIDHA has also been established to issue permissions to contesting candidates in 48hours. Samadhan, the national grievance portal is accessible at all times. Most importantly 100 percent use of EVMs, Electronic Voting Machine and VVPATS, Voter verifiable paper trail to verify the vote has gone to the person one has voted are significant. Service voters also have the facility to vote via electronic postal ballot.
No stone is left unturned to ensure a systematic conduct of elections for the
90 crore voters of the country.
Very aptly it has also been named as a festival of the country in the hope that all people will participate enthusiastically.
Instead of joking on WhatsApp about long weekends and holidays and being apathetic by not voting, it is the duty of every citizen to ensure that each one of us remains present in the city where they are enrolled as voters and exercise their right to vote.
Franklin Roosevelt has said that , "Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country."
We are fortunate to be born in a democratic country without fear of our freedom being throttled. We must therfore learn to respect the echelons of this edifice. It is upto us to achieve what we desire. If we desire democracy then we must make efforts to respect the processes connected with it. And this can only be done by being active voters and participating in the process of voting.
The benchmarks of the Election Commission for the conduct of polls are no doubts the highest. Whether the voters rise to the occasion depends on them.