Page 122 - Leap of Faith Vol - 2

Leap of Faith Journey of Indian Elections

parties or persons had expected a different outcome in Cherrapunjee, East Delhi and Jaisalmer in July, 2011- in
these elections. The Election Commission, taking cooperation with the political parties.
cognisance of the media reports, issued a press release
Another challenge faced by the Election Commission was
on July 5, 2009. The performance and security features of more subtle but persistent. It was the chronic problem of
the EVMs had been upheld in various judicial
below par voting in elections, despite the rising literacy rate
pronouncements. Meanwhile on July 27, 2009 the
in the country. In the previous three elections – 2009, 2004
Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, while disposing a
and 1999- the voting percentage did not exceed 60 percent.
petition filed by V.V. Rao & Ors, raising questions about
Voting never exceeded two-third in any Lok Sabha election,
the use of EVMs, observed that petitioners could belying the presumption that rising literacy would translate
approach the Election Commission in the matter. Similar into higher electoral participation.
petitions were pending in Madras High Court, Bombay
High Court and Madhya Pradesh High Court, Jabalpur. The setting provided a perfect justification for launching of
voters' outreach, education and facilitation programme.
The Election Commission, as an extraordinary gesture, This led to the formulation of the SVEEP (Systematic Voters'
invited political parties, and petitioners, and other Education and Electoral Participation) by the Election
individuals interested in the issue to visit Nirvachan Commission. Designed to be pursued on perennial basis, a
Sadan between August 3 and 8, 2009 to practically SVEEP Division was formed in the Election Commission. It
demonstrate their allegations on specimen EVMs. One was placed under a Director General, drawn from the
hundred EVM samples, obtained on random basis from Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
ten states across India, were kept in the Nirvachan Sadan
Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Jharkhand in
for this process. The critics, naturally, failed to establish
November & December, 2009 proved challenging. The
any of their claims. Despite their failure, there was no
state had been under President's rule since January 19,
closure. Criticism of the EVM- often depending upon the 2009 due to political crisis. Jharkhand was also one of the
election results- continued to buffet the public discourse Left Wing Insurgency affected states. Keeping these and
for one full decade. several other concerns in the mind the elections were
staggered into five phases; and polling hours between 7 AM
However, the debate over the EVM, motivated the
to 3 PM. This election had some early experimentations of
Election Commission to work for the development of
voters engagement activity that yielded dividends. The
VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail). A suggestion
overall voters' turnout figure was 56.96 percent.
from the political parties in October, 2010 was well taken
that VVPAT would enhance the credibility of the EVM. It Election Commission of India marked its diamond jubilee
was conceded that a voter had the right to know to which in January, 2010. The celebrations were inaugurated by
candidate his/her vote had actually gone. A prototype the then President of India viz. Pratibha Devi Patil in
was developed by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) within Vigyan Bhawan on January 25, 2010. The theme chosen
a short span in 2010-11. These were put to field trial in five for the Diamond Jubilee Year (2010) was - ‘Greater
locations in the country - Ladakh, Thiruvananthapuram, Participation for Stronger Democracy’. Apart from the

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