ECI initiates technical consultations on Aadhaar-Voter ID linking
'This is basically to work out the modalities for the linking and make it seamless,' said P Pawan, Deputy Director (Media Wing), ECI, while addressing the media in Puducherry on Tuesday.
As part of broader electoral reforms, Pawan highlighted the implementation of a new mechanism to identify and resolve duplicate entries in the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) database.
'Duplicate issues have been found and resolved in about 0.3% of the EPICs,' he stated.
A major digital upgrade is also on the horizon with the rollout of ECINET, a new integrated dashboard designed to replace nearly 40 separate websites and applications currently used by the Commission.
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Hindustan Times
29 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
RS gen secy appointed returning officer for vice presidential poll
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday appointed the secretary general of the Rajya Sabha as the returning officer for the Vice-Presidential election, four days after Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from the post citing medical reasons. RS gen secy appointed returning officer for vice presidential poll Garima Jain, joint secretary, and Vijay Kumar, director, both from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, have been appointed as assistant returning officers, two separate gazette notifications said. The appointments were made in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice and with the consent of the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Under Article 324 of the Constitution and the provisions of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 and the associated rules framed in 1974, the ECI is responsible for conducting the election to the office of the Vice President of India. According to Section 3 of the Act, the returning officer must be based in New Delhi. By convention, the role rotates between the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. In the previous Vice-Presidential election, the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha served as the returning officer. The Vice-Presidential election follows a system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote through secret ballot. The Electoral College comprises only Members of Parliament—both elected and nominated members of the Lok Sabha (543 elected, 2 nominated) and the Rajya Sabha (233 elected, 12 nominated), totaling 790 electors. Nominated members, who do not vote in Presidential elections, are eligible to vote in Vice-Presidential polls. The nomination process requires candidates to file in prescribed Form 3. Each nomination must be backed by at least 20 proposers and 20 seconders, all of whom must be MPs. A candidate cannot be supported by the same MP more than once. A security deposit of ₹15,000 must accompany the nomination, either in cash or pre-deposited with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Candidates may submit up to four nomination papers. Nominations are scrutinised on a fixed date to verify signatures and eligibility. Candidates can withdraw their nominations within two days after scrutiny. Based on the 2022 precedent, the election schedule typically includes notification issuance, a seven-day nomination period, scrutiny, withdrawal, and polling around 30 days after notification. In 2022, the election process lasted 32 days. The vacancy in the Vice President's office was formalised through a Gazette Notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on July 22. The ECI confirmed on Wednesday that it had initiated preparations, including the formation of the Electoral College, finalization of election officials, and compilation of background materials on past Vice-Presidential elections. The commission stated that the election schedule will be announced soon. Article 68 of the Constitution requires that an election to fill a Vice-Presidential vacancy be held 'as soon as possible' after the office falls vacant. In the interim, the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha discharges the Vice President's duties as ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) holds approximately 293 members in the Lok Sabha and 133 in the Rajya Sabha, giving it control over 426 MPs. This exceeds the simple majority threshold of 396 votes in the 790-member electoral college.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Ram Madhav writes: All parties should welcome SIR
It is heartening to see the Election Commission of India (ECI) stand firm on its now-complete Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the upcoming elections to the state legislature. The Opposition parties have been stalling Parliament, arguing that the SIR is politically motivated and intended to deprive lakhs of voters of their voting rights. They threaten to boycott elections, too. The ECI is a constitutional body with autonomous powers and responsibilities. Those critical of its actions have approached the Supreme Court. They could have gone to the ECI itself. The Supreme Court did raise some concerns and sought clarifications from the ECI, but it refused to stay the verification process as demanded by the petitioning NGOs. The ECI refused to budge before the political threats and reacted strongly to their criticism, asking whether 'fearing these things', it should 'pave the way for some to cast fake votes in the name of deceased voters, voters who have migrated permanently, or those registered in two places, fake voters or foreign voters?' India opted for universal adult franchise at the time of Independence, which was not so common even in Western countries. The US reached that stage only in 1965 through the Voting Rights Act. Full suffrage became a reality in the UK through the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act, 1928. Learning about India's decision, Britain's then-Prime Minister, Clement Atlee, found it appropriate to warn Jawaharlal Nehru that 'the Asiatic republics are few and of recent establishment. Their record is not very encouraging. They tend to degenerate into dictatorships or oligarchies.' But the Indian leadership had decided, while drafting the Nehru Report in 1928, that every eligible citizen aged 21 years or above would have the right to vote. B R Ambedkar was insistent that it should be a fundamental right. However, in its wisdom, the Constituent Assembly decided to incorporate it not as a fundamental right under Part III of the Constitution, but as a constitutional right under Article 326. This distinction is important to keep in mind because too much is said about the burden of proof being shifted onto citizens under the SIR. The right to vote, being a constitutional right, is subject to scrutiny from time to time for the eligibility of a given individual. In fact, the Representation of the People Act clearly stipulates several disqualifications with respect to the right to vote. They include non-citizenship, being of unsound mind, convictions for certain offences, non-residency, and being in prison. It is in exercise of these provisions that the ECI sought to undertake this SIR. It concluded the first phase of door-to-door verification with the help of thousands of Block Level Officers (BLOs) and other officials. Setting aside criticisms, the ECI declared that 99 per cent of electors had been covered through this exercise and that it had helped the ECI identify 2.16 million voters who were dead. Another 3.15 million were found to have permanently migrated while one lakh people were untraceable. This number constitutes around 8 per cent of the total 72.1 million voters in Bihar. There shouldn't be any controversy over those who are deceased or have migrated. Less than 1 per cent of voters failed to submit their forms about whom both the political parties and the ECI should seriously bother. This is not the end of the process anyway. The revised lists of voters will be supplied to the 12 registered parties by August 1. Parties will have one full month to challenge any of the deletions since the petitioners in the Supreme Court argued that the BLOs didn't do their job 'given the impossible deadlines'. The BLOs had one month to complete this exercise during which time they were expected to visit around 300-400 households. This accounts for less than 15 houses on a given working day, a task the petitioners think is 'impossible'. They even accused those BLOs, who often belong to poor and lower-middle-class sections, of harassing, cheating, and even seeking bribes from voters. Electoral reforms are never easy. It took four decades and an officer like T N Seshan to attend to booth capturing, bogus voting and impersonation. Seshan, a courageous officer, faced innumerable challenges when he attempted to clean up electoral rolls, introduce voter ID cards and force leaders to religiously follow the Model Code of Conduct, which was otherwise considered just a piece of paper by them. Attempts were made to impeach him in Parliament at least twice. Two additional election commissioners with equal powers were added, making the Commission a three-member body to curtail Seshan's authority. Seshan determinedly fought back and took the matter to the Supreme Court. 'I have politicians for breakfast,' he once commented. Seshan's efforts resulted in major reforms. More importantly, they gave teeth to the Commission, which was until then seen by the political class as a paper tiger. Subsequent election commissioners upheld the majestic and independent role of the Commission in conducting elections in a fair and transparent manner. Over the past few decades, India's electoral system, despite being of humongous size with 960 million voters and one million polling stations, has proved to be one of the most successful and efficient systems, one that several countries wish to emulate. The occasional revision of electoral rolls is a mandatory practice in any country. Given the large-scale migration happening in our country, the Commission's decision to undertake an intensive revision of the rolls in the entire country, starting with Bihar, must be welcomed by all parties. The writer, president, India Foundation, is with the BJP. Views are personal
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
The Hindu Morning Digest: July 26, 2025
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