Source-This post on Importance of Voter Anonymity has been created based on the article “A tool to ensure complete voter anonymity” published in “The Hindu” on 2 July 2024.
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Context- Janata Dal (United) candidate Devesh Chandra Thakur faced controversy for allegedly breaching the MCC. He suggested that certain communities shouldn’t expect help from him as they didn’t support him in elections.
This statement was seen as undermining democratic principles and the constitutional spirit of citizen-representative relationships. The elected leaders should work for everyone without discrimination based on caste or community.
What are the mechanisms to ensure voter anonymity?
A) Rule 56 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, emphasizes voter secrecy to prevent retribution or vote bargaining.
B) Ballot papers with identifiable marks that may reveal the identity of voters are rejected to maintain anonymity.
C) Ballot papers of different ballot boxes were mixed to avoid group targeting of voters based on the voting trends in a particular area.
What are the issues with the introduction of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)?
1) Reveal Voting Behavior -Mixing of ballot papers of different ballot boxes cannot be done. This has led to demands of introducing a totalizer to avoid identification of areas according to their voting behavior.
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2) Victimization of Voters-Publishing results booth by booth, allowed political parties to potentially intimidate voters based on how specific areas voted.
What is the significance of totalizer for ensuring voter anonymity?
1) Endorsed by ECI-The Election Commission of India (ECI) proposed using a totaliser to mask booth-level voting patterns. This was suggested to prevent post-election harassment of voters and maintain voting secrecy.
2) Filing of Petitions– In both the Yogesh Gupta v. EC and Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India cases, petitions were submitted to the Supreme Court urging the Election Commission to use totalizer machine.
3) Law Commission Recommendation– The Law Commission of India in its 255th report, endorsed the EC’s proposal to introduce totalizer in counting of votes.
Why is the government not willing to introduce totalizer machine in elections?
1) Public Interest-The government asserted that using a totalizer did not benefit the public interest significantly in its response to Yogesh Gupta case. It also raised concerns about the potential for data leakage from Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
2) Lack of Consensus– The Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress, and Nationalist Congress Party favored using the totalizer. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) suggested a gradual implementation, while the CPI did not express a view. The Bharatiya Janata Party opposed the proposal.
3) Rejected by Ministers- The group of ministers concluded that disclosing voting patterns by polling booths would positively impact development efforts.
Question for practice
What are the issues with the introduction of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)? What is the significance of totalizer for ensuring voter anonymity?
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