© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
National Voters’ Day is celebrated on January 25 every year. Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your knowledge nugget for today.
(Relevance: The Election process is crucial in a democracy. India has constituted the Election Commission in 1950 for this purpose. UPSC has asked questions about the election process, commission, and issues related to it in both the Prelims and Mains examinations. Therefore, it is important to know the important constitutional articles, changes in the electoral process, and significance of the day.)
January 25 is celebrated annually as National Voters’ Day to mark the foundation day of the Election Commission of India (ECI), which was founded on January 25, 1950. This year we are celebrating the 15th National Voters’ Day with the theme “Nothing Like Voting, I Vote for Sure” emphasising the importance of participation in the electoral process, and encouraging voters to take pride in exercising their franchise.
1. The day aims to promote people’s participation in elections by encouraging and felicitating young voters and increasing voter enrolment. It is also utilised to spread awareness among voters and to promote informed participation in the electoral process. The day is celebrated at the national, state, district, constituency, and polling booth levels, which makes it one of the largest celebrations in the country.
2. In democracies, voting is seen as a basic exercise that shows people’s faith in the political process. Voting gives each person a say in deciding who will hold positions of power in their society and is a crucial part of exercising one’s citizenship.
3. In 2013, the Indian Supreme Court allowed for the option ‘None of the Above’ to be introduced in Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assembly elections to allow such views to be expressed.
4. “Not allowing a person to cast a vote negatively defeats the very freedom of expression and the right ensured in Article 21, i.e. the right to liberty… a provision of negative voting would be in the interest of promoting democracy as it would send clear signals to political parties and their candidates as to what the electorate think about them. The mechanism of negative voting, thus, serves a very fundamental and essential part of a vibrant democracy,” the court said at the time.
📍In India, the first-past-the-post voting method is used to elect members of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. In this system, the candidates with the most votes win the election. It is one of the most basic methods of holding elections.
📍 The election of Rajya Sabha and President employs a single transferable vote system, which is a type of proportional representation. This system helps ensure that the composition of the Rajya Sabha more accurately reflects the proportion of votes received by different parties.
1. ‘Postal ballot’ allows voters who cannot be physically present in polling stations to vote remotely, as specified in Section 60 of the RPA. As per Rule 18 of The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, the following classes of persons are entitled to vote by postal ballot:
• Special voters: Individuals holding declared office under Section 20(4) of RPA, including the President, Vice President, Governors, Cabinet Ministers, other high-ranking dignitaries, etc. and their spouses.
• Service voters: Members of the Indian armed forces, paramilitary forces, an armed state police member serving outside their state, or a government employee stationed abroad and their spouses residing with them.
• Voters on election duty: This includes all Commission’s observers, presiding officers, polling officers and agents, police personnel, and public servants assigned official tasks on polling day. Private individuals and non-government staff, such as videographers, control room staff, drivers, conductors, cleaners, helpline staff, etc., are also covered.
• Electors subjected to preventive detention
• Absentee voters under Section 60 (c) of RPA, 1951: In 2019, the Election Commission created the ‘Absentee Voters’ category. This includes senior citizens aged 85+, persons with disabilities having at least 40% disability, Covid-19 suspect or affected persons, and persons employed in essential services.
1. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a permanent, independent, and constitutional authority responsible for conducting free and fair elections in the Union and the States of India.
| The Selection process of new Election Commissioner |
| As per the Chief Election Commissioner And Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service And Term of Office) Act, 2023, the Ministry of Law will set up a Search Committee chaired by the Law Minister to prepare a panel of five names for the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee, comprising the Prime Minister, a Cabinet minister, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, can select from this panel or consider “any other person” from outside. |
2. The Constitution has the following articles (Articles 324–329) to empower the Election Commission and provide insight into the potential roles and functions of the commission.
3. Article 324: The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament and the Legislature of every state and of elections to the offices of President and Vice-President.
4. Article 325: No individual to be excluded from electoral rolls on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or any of them.
5. Article 326: Adult suffrage shall be the basis for elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assemblies of States.
6. Article 327: Parliament may, according to the provisions of this Constitution, from time to time enact laws with respect to all matters relating to elections to Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of States.
7. Article 328: A state’s Legislature may from time to time by law make provision with respect to all matters relating to, or in connection with, the elections to the House or either House of the Legislature.
8. Article 329: The article prohibits the courts from becoming involved in electoral matters.
(Source: In a first, selection process for next Chief Election Commissioner casts wider net, ‘We do not have government by the majority… but by the majority who participate’, Election Commission of India, Expert Explains: Special categories of voters, their voting methods)
Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.
🚨New Year Special: Click Here to read the January 2025 issue of the UPSC Essentials monthly magazine. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com 🚨
