With the bugle for General Elections 2019 ready to be sounded, the nation is set for a massive poll exercise involving the Lok Sabha and several state assemblies. Indications are that the polls would be spread over six phases, and the issue of notifications could be expected for the first phase before the end of March and voting could start in the second half of April, spread through May. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends in the first week of June, before which a new government will have to be in place.
Prime Minister Modi had taken some efforts to configure assembly and Lok Sabha polls across the country at one go, but the matter could not be pursued with vigour. The idea got stuck on the if’s and but’s. Yet, in normal course, several states are getting set for assembly polls. Maharashtra and Haryana had assembly polls immediately after the last Lok Sabha polls in 2014. So did Jammu and Kashmir, followed by Delhi. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh too are ready for assembly polls. This time, the Election Commission seemed to be taking more time than in the past for announcing the polls, and the principal Opposition the Congress party is rightly exercised over this. The Congress felt the EC was giving a long rope for PM Modi to go around announcing new schemes – which cannot be done once the polls are announced.
The phasing out of the poll process has proven to be effective and this helped in properly organising the elections, giving sufficient time and space for the polling staff as also the police establishments to spread out or redeploy their personnel. This is more so in sensitive areas, including states like once-unruly Bihar, or politically volatile West Bengal. At the same time, the long pause before the announcement of results robs the process of the elements of surprise and euphoria. This is unjustifiable when such is the scenario even in a by-poll. This is so, even as electronic voting machines are easier to handle. This might, at worst, strengthen the feeling that Indians cannot do a thing fast enough. At the same time, the announcement of all the results in one single day after the general elections is appreciable.
The successful conduct of elections year after year is a credit-worthy performance for India. The Indian electoral system is effectively being copied elsewhere too, a sign of its strengths.