Why are activists opposing EC’s election rule amendment? | Explained

The story so far:

The Centre on December 20 amended the Conduct of Election Rules to restrict access for the public to a section of poll documents. This was done by the Union Law Ministry following a recommendation from the Election Commission (EC). While the EC said the amendment aims to restrict access to electronic data, the Opposition and transparency activists have been up in arms, branding it as an attack on the right to information and electoral freedom.

What is the Conduct of Election Rules?

The Conduct of Election Rules,1961, is a set of rules which provide for provisions on how to conduct the elections as per the Representation of People Act.

What is the amendment?

This amendment was brought into effect through a notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice on December 20. Rule 93(2)(a) of the 1961 Conduct of Election Rules had earlier stated that “all other papers relating to the election shall be open to public inspection” but after the amendment, it reads, “all other papers as specified in these rules relating to the election shall be open to public inspection.”

Why has the amendment been brought in now?

The move comes after a recent direction to the EC by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to share all documents related to the Haryana Assembly election, including treating CCTV footage also as permissible under Rule 93(2) of the Conduct of Election Rules, to petitioner Mahmoud Pracha.

According to a senior official of the EC, “The rule mentioned election papers. The election papers and documents does not specifically refer to electronic records. In order to remove this ambiguity and considering the serious issue of violation of secrecy of vote and potential misuse of CCTV footage of inside the polling station using artificial intelligence by a single person, the rule has been amended. to safeguard misuse of CCTV footage of inside of the polling station. The EC argues that sharing of CCTV footage may have serious repercussions, especially in sensitive areas like Jammu and Kashmir, naxal-affected regions, etc where secrecy is important. The lives of the voters may also be at risk. All election papers and documents are otherwise available for public inspection.”

“Candidates in any case have access to all documents, papers and records. Even Mr. Pracha was entitled to all the documents and records from his constituency when he contested as a candidate in Lok Sabha elections 2024”, the official said. adding nothing has been amended in the rules in this regard.

Why are the transparency activists protesting?

RTI activists have termed the move as a setback to transparency.

According to transparency activist Anjali Bharadwaj, Rule 93 is akin to the Right to Information Act as far as elections are concerned and, any change hurts the citizen’s right to know about the process.

Venkatesh Nayak, Director Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative explained further that “upon initial examination, the amendment appears to be aimed at restricting citizen-voters’ right to access a large number of documents created during Parliamentary and State Assembly elections many of which are not specifically mentioned in the Conduct of Election Rules, instead, they are mentioned in the handbooks and manuals published by the Election Commission from time to time”. Some of these records are reports submitted by Election Observers, scrutiny reports submitted by Returning Officers after polling day and the Index Cards sent to the EC after the declaration of results which contain detailed statistics relating to the elections.

He said that given the controversy about voter turnout in recent Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, access to the Presiding Officers’ diaries which contain detailed data about voter turnout at different points of times throughout polling day and the number of tokens they distribute to voters who are in the queue at the hour scheduled for closing of polling are not mentioned specifically in the Conduct of Election Rules. “Yet access to such documents is crucial to assess the fairness of elections. The amendment seeks to prevent access to such documents and many other reports and returns that are filed by various election officials”.

What does the Opposition say?

The Congress claimed that a change in rules regarding the conduct of elections vindicated their assertions regarding the rapidly eroding integrity of the electoral process managed by the EC.

The Congress moved the Supreme Court against the amendments on Tuesday.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has said it was part of a “systematic conspiracy to destroy the institutional integrity of the EC”, while the Samajwadi Party and the Left parties accused the EC of “undermining multi-party democracy” by taking “unilateral” decisions without consulting all political parties.