Page 112 - Leap of Faith Vol - 2

Leap of Faith Journey of Indian Elections

poll dates being September 4, 11, 17, 24 and October 1.
e Fieenth Law Commission (1997-2000), Chaired While elections were single phased in most states and
by Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy, embarked on suo motu UTs, they were two-phased in six states and three-
review of Representation of the People Act, 1951. Its phased in five. The elections to the legislative assemblies
recommendations submitted in May, 1999 are contained of Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
in the 170 Report of the Law Commission. e main Maharashtra and Sikkim were also held alongside the
thrust of the Report was on partial introduction of list Lok Sabha elections.
system (proportional representation) alongside the The Thirteenth General Elections were the last, held
prevalent First Past the Post (FPTP). It recommended predominantly with paper ballot. Only 45 Parliamentary
that 138 members (out of total possible 550) members of Constituencies spread over 17 states/UTs and covering
Lok Sabha would be elected through List System. In the about 60 million (six crore) electorate voted by the
List System, no candidate can contest independent of EVMs. In a few cases, EVMs and ballot boxes were
political parties. e Report proposed that independent swapped, according to the requirement in various
candidates should be altogether debarred from states. For instance, since polling in all seven
contesting elections. Parliamentary Constituencies of Delhi were held

On May 3, 1999 itself the presence of intruders was
noticed at Yaldor Sector (district Leh) in Ladakh in the
erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir. The situation soon
escalated into the “Kargil War” requiring heavy
mobilisation of Indian Armed Forces. The hostilities
covered the whole of May and June and best part of July.
The work of election planning, however, did not suffer for
a day. Since it was an emergent national security crisis,
the full Commission chose to meet the Prime Minister,
who was accompanied by Home Minister, External Affairs
Minister, and the National Security Adviser, on July 2,
1999. A separate meeting with Chief Secretary, Home
Secretary, DG (J&K Police) and Chief Electoral Officer, J&K
was held on July 5, 1999. Fortunately, the “Kargil War”
came to an end on July 26, 1999 with all intruders
dislodged from the Indian soil.

The election schedule was announced on July 11, 1999.
The elections were staggered into five phases with actual A Report published by Election Commission of India (2000)

94