Govt seeks states' views on open ballot system for Legislative Council

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar have supported open ballot system

The government has sought the views of states to explore the possibility of introducing 'open ballot' system for legislative council polls on the lines of Rajya Sabha elections to check misuse of money power.

In its meeting with top Law Ministry officials in January, the Election Commission had batted for the idea. Later in June, then Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda had written to chief ministers of various states seeking their opinion on having the new system.

Under open ballot, MLAs belonging to political parties are required to show their ballot paper, after casting vote, to the authorised representative of the party.

The Commission's proposal is that in case of elections to Legislative Council, voting should be through open ballot, as the electors in both these elections are the MLAs. This will check malpractice by the voters.

Of the seven states which have bicameral system, response of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar have been received by the Commission supporting open ballot system.

Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana have legislative councils.

Under Rule 39 AA of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, at the time of the poll at elections to the Rajya Sabha, every elector (MLA) belonging to a political party has to show his marked ballot paper to the authorised representative of his party before inserting it into the ballot box and any refusal on his part to show his marked ballot paper to his party representative would render his ballot paper liable to rejection.

The Representation of the People Act, 1951 was amended to allow open ballot in Rajya Sabha polls.

In August, 2006, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had upheld an amendment introducing open ballot, instead of secret ballot, for elections to the Rajya Sabha.

The Bench had said, "the Constitution itself has provided for elections by secret ballot where it thought it fit to do so, for example, in case of election of the President and the Vice-President.

"It not being the requirement of the Constitution, as in the case of the President and the Vice-President, it was permissible for Parliament when passing legislation on the subject to provide otherwise, that is to choose between the system of secret ballot or open ballot, and so there is no constitutional infirmity in providing open ballot system for the Council of States (Rajya Sabha).