ECI’s mission, four Ms: With elections round the corner, poll panel faces a huge task

Animesh Singh

On March 16, while announcing the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar stated that the Election Commission of India (ECI) was fully determined to tackle what he described as the ‘4 Ms’ — muscle power, money power, misinformation and the model code of conduct (MCC) violations.

Sounding uncharacteristically assertive, he said the ECI will be “ruthless” against any acts of violence and no misuse of money power will be allowed. MCC violations, he added, won’t be tolerated and political parties were being put on notice.

Given the numerous incidents of use of muscle and money power during elections over the past few decades, there are reasons for the ECI to be concerned. Data shows that money seizures rose by 835 per cent to Rs 3,400 crore in the 11 state Assembly elections held during 2022-23, as compared to polls held in 2017-18.

Parties put on notice

Having collected data of all model code of conduct violations, we have issued a final advisory (to political parties). So, this is how we have set our grounds. We are putting political parties on notice. We have asked them to give copies of our guidelines to each star campaigner —  Rajiv Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner

TACKLING MUSCLE POWER

• Adequate deployment of CAPFs
• Drone-based checking at borders
• 24x7 integrated control room in districts
• Webcasting in sensitive booths (minimum 50% of total police stations)
• Execution of pending non-bailable warrants
• Surrender of arms
• Surveillance of history-sheeters
• Network of check-posts across the country

ADVISORY ON MCC

• Foster political discourse which inspires rather than divides
• Issue-based campaigning
• No hate speeches
• No caste or religious appeals
• No criticism of any aspect of private life
• Checking pattern of past code violations to prepare grounds for ‘civilised campaigning’
• To refrain from unverified and misleading advertisements
• No masquerading of advertisements as news
• Restraint on social media posts vilifying/insulting rivals
• Responsibility lies on star campaigners to maintain decorum

CURBING MISINFORMATION

• Political parties advised to ensure responsible social media behaviour
• Originators of fake news to be dealt with severely as per extant laws
• Section 79 (3)(B) of the IT Act empowers nodal officers in each state to remove unlawful content and curtail fake narratives
• SOPs issued for quick response against fake news
• Proactive communication on ‘Fakes — Myth vs Reality’ on eci.gov.in

CRACKDOWN ON MONEY POWER

• Plug inflow and distribution of liquor, cash, freebies, drugs
• Strike hard against kingpins
• Disrupt illicit distribution of sensitive goods and freebies
• Strict vigil of illicit online cash transfers
• No movement of cash in bank vehicles after sunset
• Surveillance and inspection of non-scheduled chartered flights
• Identifying route chart for flow of cash/liquor/drugs

Among bigger states, Gujarat, Telangana and Rajasthan witnessed the maximum cash seizures between 2017-18 and 2022-23. Gujarat recorded seizures worth Rs 802 crore, a rise of 2,847 per cent; Telangana Rs 778 crore, a rise of 506 per cent; while Rajasthan recorded seizures of Rs 704 crore, a rise of 951 per cent.

Though incidents of muscle power have come down considerably as compared to the 1980s and 1990s, when booth-capturing, snatching of ballot papers and polling of votes by strongmen of politicians were rampant, the misuse of money power remains a persistent evil. According to former CEC OP Rawat, “There is no universal panacea for such challenges and the only option is to strengthen the existing laws and framework.”

Another problematic area is the rampant violation of the model code of conduct. CEC Rajiv Kumar said, “Having collected data of all MCC violations, we have issued a final advisory (to political parties)... we have asked them to give copies of our guidelines to each star campaigner.” Bringing these guidelines to the notice of each star campaigner will be the responsibility of political parties, he added. “People were asking, ‘You issued so many notices last time, but did nothing.’ That was a moral censor. Now we will go beyond. We will also look at the past history, and take a calibrated approach.”

To curb muscle power, the ECI plans to deploy adequate personnel of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) at strategic locations, and introduce drone-based checking at borders. In addition, there will be 24x7 integrated control rooms in districts as well as webcasting in sensitive booths.

History-sheeters will be under surveillance, while pending non-bailable warrants will be executed on top priority, ECI officials say. A network of check-posts will be set up across the country.

To control money power, the ECI has issued directions to enforcement agencies to crack down on the inflow and distribution of liquor, cash, drugs and freebies. The agencies have also been directed to come down hard on kingpins involved in the supply of such items.

The illicit distribution of sensitive goods and freebies will be curbed and there would be a strict vigil on illicit online cash transfers, according to election officials.

In addition, there will be no movement of cash in bank vehicles after sunset and surveillance as well as inspection of non-scheduled chartered flights will be conducted, with a special focus on identifying routes of cash flow, liquor and drugs. Also, arrangements of live tracking of seizures have been made.

As part of its plans to ensure strict adherence to provisions of the model code, the poll body plans to foster among political parties a political discourse “which inspires rather than divides”. It has also suggested that parties should focus mainly on issue-based campaigning, while refraining from hate speeches and appeals based on caste and religious lines.

The poll body also plans to ensure that political parties do not indulge in personal attacks on rival candidates. It aims to use patterns of past model code violations to prepare grounds for “civilised campaigning” in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The ECI has issued directions to political parties to desist from issuing unverified and misleading advertisements as well as advertorials masquerading as news. A restraint on social media posts which vilify or insult political rivals will also be imposed, while star campaigners will be asked to maintain decorum, the ECI said.

However, curbing the spread of misinformation could prove to be a tough task, considering the proliferation of social media platforms since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

As former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami reasons, “Greater the advancement in technologies, greater are the challenges to tackle its misuse.”

OP Rawat feels legal reforms are required as emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ‘deep fakes’ will pose challenges in the coming days. “Changes are required in the IT Act and even in the Representation of the People Act, as existing provisions are not sufficient to tackle emerging technologies. In future, challenges will emerge and preparations will be needed to curb problems which may arise from them,” he notes.

‘Deep fakes’ and AI are immediate challenges which need to be tackled, Rawat adds, reminding how during his tenure at the ECI, they engaged with social media platforms and took undertakings from them to ensure prevention of misleading information.

Ashok Lavasa, who was the Election Commissioner during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, recalls how the ECI at the time held meetings with representatives of social media platforms and it was mutually decided to have a code of ethics. “There should be a legal framework in place to curb misinformation during elections, especially wrong information which spreads through social media,” he says. “If there are discrepancies in law, the Election Commission can have discussions with such platforms to evolve a code of ethics to seek their active cooperation.”

This time, the ECI, on its part, aims to advise political parties to ensure responsible social media behaviour, what with major parties having a strong and influential network of IT cells. It also plans to deal severely with originators of fake news. ECI officials say that Section 79 (3)(B) of the IT Act empowers nodal officers in each state to remove unlawful content.

In order to curtail fake news and narratives, standard operating procedures (SOPs) have been prepared. The ECI on its website has uploaded a proactive communication on ‘Fakes — Myth vs Reality’.

The poll body has also urged all parties and candidates to ensure that their supporters do not indulge in hate speeches and fake news. A strict watch on social media posts is being kept to ensure that the election atmosphere is not vitiated.

The media, too, has been requested to play an active role in curbing the menace of fake news. Election-related news on all the major national and regional news channels would be monitored vigorously. If any untoward incident or violation of any law or rule is noticed, then action would be taken immediately, the ECI said.

Reports of monitoring would be forwarded to the Chief Electoral Officers. Offices of CEOs will ascertain the status of each and every item and file action taken reports.

The ECI’s firm strategy evokes a feeling of hope, but analysts sound a note of caution about the overtly optimistic projections.

Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms, says it is one thing to announce measures to ensure smooth elections, but quite another to ensure that these are effective on the ground. “The Election Commission has a tough job to do, but that is what it is meant for. It has to ensure that whatever guidelines it has issued are implemented in true spirit on the ground,” he adds.

The Election Commission of India will be well aware that as it casts a wide net to ensure free and fair polls, on test would be its ability to live up to the promises.

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