Page 117 - Leap of Faith inside pages with cover (1)

Vision for a New Century Chapter 5

The dexterous and clinical handling of legislative During the period 2002-03, the Election Commission
assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in September intensively revised the electoral rolls of 27 states/UT. The
& October, 2002; and Gujarat in December, 2002 elections to the legislative assemblies in four states viz.
respectively was the highlight of J.M. Lyngdoh's tenure. Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura in
In Gujarat, where the Tenth Legislative Assembly had February, 2003, polling were entirely conducted with the
been dissolved by the Hon'ble Governor on July 19, EVM. The plan was now to conduct the Fourteenth
2002–seven months short of its normal term, the General Elections in 2004 likewise. On February 6,
Election Commission in its 40-page long order declared 2004–President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam prematurely
that free and fair elections could be conducted in dissolved the Lok Sabha on the advice of the Union
November-December, 2002. The then President of India Cabinet to set the scene for fresh elections. T.S. Krishna
th
Dr. Abdul Kalam referred the matter to the Supreme Murthy, being appointed as the 13 Chief Election
Court of India under Article 143 of the Constitution on Commissioner of India, took office on February 8, 2004.
The Commission directly got into hectic preparations for
whether it constituted an infringement of Article 174 (1)
the General Elections, whose schedule was soon
that six months shall not intervene between the last
announced on February 29, 2004.
sitting of the Legislative Assembly in one session and date
appointed for first sitting in the next Session. The Hon'ble The national electorate strength for the Fourteenth
Supreme Court on October 28, 2002 upheld Election General Election was close to 675 million (67.5 cr). For the
Commission of India's authority to decide the time. first time, all candidates across the nation, had to

The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2003 (24 of
2003) enacted on March 22, 2003 introduced the
concept of 'Proxy Voting'. The legislation amended
Sections 59, 60 and 62 of the Representation of the
People Act, 1951. The facility of appointing a proxy
for casting of vote on behalf of the original elector
was extended only to Service Voters belonging to
Armed Forces and Para-military Forces. The Proxy
had to be an adult citizen of India (minimum 18
years); and both the Voter and the Proxy had to get
their signatures on the Form attested from the
respective authorities as notified in the rules.

CEC T.S. Krishna Murthy addressing a press conference

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