Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi, a doctorate in communication and social marketing, is known for expressing his opinion freely and fearlessly. He headed the CEC from July 2010 to June 2012 the time when EVM controversy started and was the one who proposed and implemented VVPAT to address the issues raised by various political parties.
During his two year tenure he planned and
supervised several state assembly elections, and introduced many electoral
reforms and introduced a voter education division and an expenditure monitoring
division in the Election Commission. He has also authored a book titled ‘An
Undocumented Wonder – the Making of the Great Indian Election’, that describes
the enormity and complexity of Indian elections.
He also set up India International Institute
of Democracy and Election Management (IIDEM) and launched National Voters Day.
A Haryana-cadre 1971 batch IAS officer, Quraishi held significant posts in the
Haryana government as well as in the Union government. In 2016 he was
awarded Honorary Fellowship of the National Indian Students and Alumni
Union, He spoke to VIJAY THAKUR on the future roadmap for the Election
Commission and challenges to face elections in wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
Excerpts:
Question
You have recently called for a ban on opinion polls. Why you are
not in favour of Opinion Polls?
Answer
There is no issue if the Opinion Polls are honest. But in a
situation where the credibility of media has gone down, you can buy editorial,
you can buy news item. That is why all political parties had approached ECI,
which we agreed and told them to make a law against opinion polls. After that
Law Ministry sent us a draft for banning opinion and exit polls. The Election
Commission vetted it. But surprisingly after a fortnight, we noticed that they
only banned exit polls and left opinion polls. They demanded, we supported it,
but when it came to making an act, they ignored it.
Why we are against Opinion Polls is the trend of paid news. In a
situation where we are reporting hundreds of cases of paid news, we cannot rule
out the ‘bogus’ opinion polls. And if a bogus opinion poll is projected it
would influence public opinion and would affect the purity of the elections. So
the banning of Opinion Polls is must for a free and fair election.
Question
To address the EVM apprehensions, the Election Commission has
introduced VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) machines. Now you suggested
counting of votes from VVPAT slips instead of EVMs.
Answer
I was heading the CEC when VVPAT was introduced in 2010. When
EVM controversy was quite high in 2010, we had an all-party meeting where all
political parties agreed to VVPAT. In 2011 we pad dry run of the machine in
five towns in different geographical regions, which encountered some errors and
sent back for further improvement. A year later, another mock trial was run in
the same towns which were successful. Finally, we decided to introduce it in
some bye-elections. After its successful run, we finally ordered 20 lakh VVPAT
machines and that’s why VVPAT machine was used in 2019 elections.
Despite all that some political parties are still questioning
EVM and demanding voting through ballot papers. I suggested two models. First
was that the winner and runner up may appeal two machines where they suspect
something.
The second model was to do the reverse, instead of counting on EVMs, count on VVPAT machines. Actually counting of VVPAT and EVM machines take nearly 20 to 25 minutes. So instead of counting on EVM lets count VVPAT slips, both would take a similar time, but the confidence level would go up among the contesting candidates. Let's do it on a pilot basis in some constituency. Reversing the process, which means counting VVPAT slips would bring enhance and transparency and credibility to the electoral system.
Question
But by doing so, aren’t you actually advocating for a return to
paper ballots?
Answer
Counting of ballot papers is a long process, it was a big paper
sheet, opening it checking it and then counting takes a much longer time.
Whereas VVPAT slip is a 3-inch slip and hardly takes much time. Counting
through a VVPAT machine or through an EVM, both take almost the same time. So
in the end there would not be much difference whether we count EVMS or VVPAT
slips. I discussed it with some officials of the ECI and suggested these change
in the process to increase the credibility of the electoral system.
Question
What are your views on the issue of electoral bonds?
I
am strongly of the view that Electoral Bonds are undemocratic, have
killed transparency, legitimised Crony Capitalism. The scheme introduced by the
present government has apparently not only legalized the crony capitalism but
also taken away transparency from political funding.
Earlier
no company could donate more than 7.5% of their last three years profit
unfortunately this limit has been taken away and now a company could donate
almost 100% of their profits. Obviously, there is no free lunch. If a company
is giving its huge profit, it would definitely expect something back and may
influence the government’s decision in their favour.
So the introduction of Electoral bond is definitely a
backward step, taken pretending to be a forward step. In the name of bringing
transparency, in fact, they killed transparency. Earlier all
donations more than Rs 20,000 was to be brought in the knowledge of the
Election Commission. Today even if the donation is of Rs 20 crore, election
commission would not come to know the source of the funding.
Question
The EC recently conducted the Bihar Assembly polls successfully
amid the Covid pandemic which continues to rage. There are some crucial state
polls lined up for early next year. What is your take on elections in Covid
times?
Answer
Election Commission has done excellent in Bihar assembly
elections. It is for the first time that the Commission held four press
conferences to bring more transparency. All the detailed guidelines and SOPs
(Standard Operating Procedures) were scientific, intelligent and based on
global experience. We hope it would do the same in the coming elections.
India’s Election Commission is always learning and improving itself. EC must
have done post mortem of the Bihar assembly elections and I hope it would
further improve its guidelines based on its Bihar experience.
Ends.
