Streamlining the Procedures: Focus on the Election Commission of India, Electoral Procedures
In the realm of India's electoral democracy, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is undergoing significant changes aimed at bolstering its transparency and independence. Here's a look at some of the key developments:
- Periodic Third-Party Roll Audits: To bolster the integrity of the electoral roll, CAG-empanelled auditors are now authorised to scrutinise 1% of booths after every general election. These audits will help ensure the accuracy of voter lists through periodic third-party roll audits, with funding coming from the Electoral Trust surcharge (0.01% of corporate political donations).
- Legalising the Model Code of Conduct (MCC): The MCC, which guides political parties during elections, is being legislated. This move will enable the judiciary to enforce the MCC with graded penalties, addressing a gap where ECI directives are currently treated as moral suasion only.
- Technological Advancements: The Turnout App, used for recording voter turnout, is being upgraded. The new version will include GPS-tagged auto-sync and AI flagging of deviations to prompt real-time alerts to observers.
- Digital Election Literacy: To foster informed citizens, digital election literacy is being embedded in school civics by 2027 in partnership with NCERT.
- Data Transparency: To address concerns around data transparency, raw CCTV footage is retained for a year on a cloud vault accessible to recognised parties via secure login. Watermarked downloads will help trace any potential leaks.
- Addressing Misinformation: The IT Rules are being amended to tag verified ECI data-sets on social platforms, flagging false turnout claims and combating misinformation.
- Cost Offset: The costs of implementing the CCTV footage escrow system can be offset under CSR by tech majors via Section 135-BB of the Companies Act.
- Training BLOs: Training of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) on the upgraded Turnout App module is being ensured during the SSR period to ensure usability.
However, debates continue regarding the ECI's independence due to recent legislative and administrative changes. Critics argue that the method of appointing Chief Election Commissioners and Election Commissioners has sometimes lacked transparency and multi-stakeholder involvement, raising questions about potential executive influence over the commission.
Suggested reforms to ensure constitutional morality include institutionalising appointments through independent, bipartisan committees or judicial-led panels, enhancing legal frameworks, improving technological systems, promoting public engagement and civil society oversight, and ensuring judicial vigilance on election-related disputes.
The ongoing Supreme Court case "Association for Democratic Reforms and Ors. v. Election Commission of India" reflects active judicial scrutiny on related issues, which may influence future reforms.
In the absence of more recent detailed press releases or official statements explicitly addressing these specific changes to the ECI’s processes, these points reflect ongoing themes in the discourse on the commission’s independence and transparency. As of August 2025, no new major government press releases explicitly addressing these concerns appear in the search results.
- The policy-and-legislation aimed at legislating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) signifies an effort to address issues of transparency and independence within the Election Commission of India (ECI), making it possible for the judiciary to enforce the MCC with graded penalties.
- In the realm of general-news, debates persist over the mains of executive influence on the ECI, with suggested reforms focusing on ensuring constitutional morality, such as institutionalising appointments through independent, bipartisan committees or judicial-led panels.
