Page 83 - Leap of Faith Vol - 2

Democracy Marches Ahead Chapter 3

CEC S.P. Sen-Varma addressing Chief Election Officers in New Delhi, 1969
Mid-Term elec ons to Haryana Legisla ve Assembly was tolerated under any pretext” (Representa ve Government
held in May, 1968; and those to the legisla ve Chapter X). The reduc on in distance to polling sta ons led
assemblies in Punjab, U ar Pradesh, Bihar and West to decrease in voters' dependence on conveyances
Bengal, Nagaland and Pondicherry (now Puducherry) arranged by the candidates.
were held in February, 1969. They affected one-third of
India's electorate. However, the mid-term polls also
afforded the Elec on Commission of India an e mid-term polls that followed the Fourth General
opportunity to try a number of innova ons. Elections (1967) disrupted the synchrony of
Parliamentary and Assembly Elections. e trend was
A “Minimum Code of Conduct” for poli cal par es was exacerbated by increased instances of imposing
issued for the first me under the signature of the Chief President's Rule under Article 356 (as many as 62 times
Elec on Commissioner on September 26, 1968. The between 1967 and 1985) to handle constitutional crisis in
distance between two polling sta ons was reduced from the states. e term of the Fih Lok Sabha (1971-77) was
three miles (4.8 km) to two miles (3.6 km). The Chief extended during the Emergency (1975-77). e Fourth,
Elec on Commissioner took a leaf out of John Stuart Mill's Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh and Twelh Lok Sabhas faced
observa ons, “the polling places should be so numerous as premature dissolution. e concord between the terms of
to be within easy reach of every voter; and no expenses of central and state legislatures was irretrievably lost.
conveyance at the cost of the candidate, should be

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