India gained independence on the midnight of 14-15 August 1947. The people of India had been waiting for this moment for a long time. After independence, the country had challenges to realize many dreams.
The biggest challenge was how the country would be governed after independence through a democratic government that would work for the interests of all the people.
This was not an easy task to do. The way India got independence, hardly any other country has become independent like that.
India became independent but with partition. In this partition, the country saw a period of unprecedented violence and displacement. In these difficult circumstances, independent India had to start the journey to achieve its dreams.
Right to vote for all people
After independence, India did not choose the path that the Western countries had chosen. For a long time in Western countries, only a few wealthy people had the right to vote and workers and women were denied the right to vote.
Independent India decided to hold general elections based on adult suffrage.
This was an unprecedented decision, which was to decide the fate of the new India.
Before independence, only a limited number of people were given the right to vote. At that time, the eligibility to vote was fixed in such a way that only wealthy landowners and businessmen had the right to vote.
Within two years of independence, the Election Commission was established in India, and in March 1950, Sukumar Sen was appointed the first Chief Election Commissioner.
Who was Sukumar Sen?
According to the English newspaper The Telegraph, Sukumar was born on January 2, 1899. His father Akshay Kumar Sen was a bureaucrat.
Sen completed his graduation in mathematics from Presidency College, Kolkata, and then joined the University of London to complete his further studies. Here he was also awarded the Gold Medal in Mathematics.
In the year 1921, Sen joined the Indian Civil Service. Then for the next two and a half decades, Sen worked in the judiciary in various positions across India. In the year 1947, Sen was appointed Chief Secretary of West Bengal, where he met senior Congress leader Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy.
BC Roy took Sukumar Sen to Delhi to take over as the first Election Commissioner of India.
The very next month after his appointment, the Representation of the People Act was passed in Parliament. After this, India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru expressed his desire to hold elections in the country by the next spring.
Challenges faced in the first election
It was a difficult task to conduct elections in a large country like India in such a short time. About 17 crore people participated in the first general election in India, of which 85 percent could neither read nor write. In total, elections were held for about 4500 seats, of which 499 were Lok Sabha seats.
Sukumar Sen had many challenges. What kind of party symbol, ballot paper, and ballot box should be made for the mostly illiterate voters?
Along with this, polling stations had to be selected for the elections. Apart from this, honest and capable polling officers also had to be appointed.
Ramchandra Guha writes in his book ‘India After Gandhi’, “The biggest problem he faced was to add the names of women voters to the voter list. Many women were hesitant to reveal their names. They preferred to be called someone’s daughter or someone’s wife.”
“Sukumar Sen instructed his officials to strictly record the name of the voter instead of writing the details of such voters.”
In Western countries, voters were educated and could recognize political parties by name, whereas in India, pictures were used to make voters understand.
Ballot boxes were kept at every polling station on which the election symbol of the party was printed and voters had to cast their vote in it.
To avoid fake voters, Indian scientists made an ink that was applied to the fingers of the voters and it did not fade for a week.
What did the world say about the first Indian election?
India’s first general election proved to be a milestone in the history of democracy all over the world. After this, it was proved that democratic elections can be held anywhere in the world.
According to the English newspaper Indian Express, in February 1952, when the voting was over, Britain’s High Commissioner in India Archibald Nye wrote a report.
In this report, he said, “This election was a test to understand the ways of parliamentary democracy. This country has passed it well.”
Ramchandra Guha writes in his book ‘India After Gandhi’, “A Turkish journalist said that on one hand, the public had the option of choosing hegemonists, communalists, separatists and absolutists, while on the other han,d there was the option of secularism, national unity, modernity and brotherly behavior with the rest of the world.”
“The public showed its maturity by choosing modernity and progress and rejected anarchy.”
The first voters of independent India
The first vote of India’s first general election was cast on October 25, 1951, in Chini tehsil (now Kinnaur district) of Himachal Pradesh. This first vote was cast by Shyam Sharan Negi, a resident of the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh.
He cast his vote before the first general election because his valley was cut off from the rest of the world due to snowfall in winter. To avoid this, the officials took this step.
Voting could be held in other parts of the country only in January and February 1952.
Shyam Sharan Negi was a school teacher in Chini tehsil (now Kinnaur district) and he was given the duty of conducting the polling during the first election.
According to Hindustan Times, his son Chander Prakash says, “My father requested the polling officials to first cast his vote in Chini (now Kinnaur) and then return to his polling station, where he was assigned duty.”
“His request was accepted by the officials and thus he became the first voter of the country.”
He died in 2022 at the age of 105.
The journey of the formation of the Election Commission
Elections in India are held according to constitutional provisions. Also, the laws made by the Parliament play an important role in this. Among these laws, the Representation of the People Act, of 1950 and 1951 are important.
The Election Commission of India is a permanent constitutional body, which was established on 25 January 1950 according to the Constitution.
Today, the Election Commission has three members, one Chief Election Commissioner, and two Election Commissioners.
But when it was established in 1950, only the Chief Election Commissioner was its only member. This continued till 1989.
According to the website of the Election Commission, for the first time on 16 October 1989, two additional commissioners were appointed, but their tenure was also very short i.e. till 1 January 1990. After this, till 30 September 1993, there was only one member in the Election Commission i.e. the Chief Election Commissioner.
Then on October 1, 1993, two additional election commissioners were appointed. Since then, the concept of a multi-member commission, where decisions are taken by a majority, has been in place.
Important reforms in the electoral system
When Chandrashekhar became the Prime Minister with the support of the Congress, TN Seshan was appointed as the 10th Chief Election Commissioner in December 1990.
This was a very important moment for the Indian electoral system, as the country witnessed many important electoral reforms after Seshan’s appointment. He held the post from December 12, 1990, to December 11, 1996.
He introduced photo identity cards or voter ID cards to prevent fake voting. His decision was opposed by politicians saying that it was too expensive for a country like India.
It was during his tenure that the Election Commission was made a multi-member body in October 1993. After his appointment, political parties and candidates started taking the code of conduct seriously.
While hearing the petitions seeking reform in the appointment of Election Commissioner in 2022, the Supreme Court had said that there have been many Election Commissioners till now, but someone like TN Seshan is rarely there.
The tough stand that TN Seshan started in the Election Commission to conduct fair and clean elections by gearing up against politicians was further strengthened by James Michael Lyngdoh.
He was the 12th Chief Election Commissioner of India, who held this responsibility from June 2001 to February 2004.
Lingdoh became more famous due to the announcement of the state government to hold elections after the Gujarat riots in 2002 and the conflict with the Election Commission.
The then-state government wanted to hold early elections in the state, but Lyngdoh said that elections should not be held citing the situation after the riots.
Finally, elections were held in Gujarat in December 2002. This episode showed that the game of power cannot come in the way of the electoral process.
Apart from this, the elections held in Jammu and Kashmir in 2002 were also a major achievement of Lingdoh. In this election, not only were the elections relatively peaceful but people’s participation also increased.
Where does the Election Commission get funding?
The Election Commission holds regular meetings. All Election Commissioners have the same role in decisions for the Commission.
The Commission assigns responsibilities to its officers in its secretariat from time to time. The Commission has a secretariat in New Delhi, where 550 officers work in different positions.
The Secretariat of the Election Commission has an independent budget. This budget is finalized in direct consultation between the Election Commission and the Union Finance Ministry.
Usually, the Finance Ministry accepts the Election Commission’s recommendations for the budget.
However, the expenditure on the actual conduct of the election is taken from the budget of the Union Law Ministry and the respective states/union territories.
If Lok Sabha elections are being held, the entire expenditure is borne by the Central Government. Whereas for the state assembly elections, all the expenses are borne by the respective state.
Whereas if the Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections are held at the same time, the entire expenditure is divided equally between the Centre and State governments.
