Outgoing CEC calls for early verdicts on poll cases, regulation of freebies

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CEC Rajiv Kumar on Monday lamented that hearing of long-pending cases questioning electoral processes "fuel distrust" that petitioners intend to create and said it would be good if such proceedings are scheduled with due consideration to the election period.

"This is a specific expectation of India's esteemed constitutional courts (the Supreme Court and 25 high courts)," Kumar, who demits office on February 18, said in his farewell address.

He also said that the Election Commission remains steadfast in its commitment to addressing concerns surrounding unchecked freebies and overpromising manifestos.

"While the matter related to freebies is currently sub-judice, and I hope for a timely decision from the court, it is imperative in the interim that political promises are backed by clear disclosures on their financial viability and their effect on the fiscal health of the state," he said.

Kumar also stressed the need to have a totaliser system to ensure confidentiality in polling station-wise voting patterns and said it is high time that NRIs are empowered to vote from their locations.

In his farewell address ahead of his retirement, he also said consensus for remote voting mechanisms is must to facilitate crores of migrant voters. Biometric authentication at polling booths should be tried to efficiently tackle impersonation of voters, he said.

The outgoing CEC said online reporting of political party expenditures has begun and must be made mandatory for better financial transparency and analytics.

On political promises, he said these must be backed by financial disclosures and courts need to facilitate early decision.

Unregulated social media algorithms pose a serious risk to elections worldwide and must be addressed urgently, Kumar underlined and asserted that election management bodies need to develop capacity to counter mischievous, baseless and strategically timed criticism.

Casting doubt on outcomes of elections after active and full participation in the process is undesirable, the outgoing head of the poll authority lamented.

"Technology has been a powerful enabler in our electoral processes, helping refine voter rolls, streamline operations, and engage citizens more effectively," he said.

The EC, he said, has been at the forefront in "adopting technology in our electoral operations".

"However, innovations like biometric authentication may further help prevent impersonation and multiple voting, ensuring that every vote belongs to the rightful voter," he said.

Presently in the system of counting of votes, the result is retrieved from each EVM, then the votes polled in respect of each candidate is totalled and result is declared. The demerit of this system of counting is that the candidates can know from where they have received how much vote. This leads to the problem of post-election violence, victimisation and exclusion of the supporters of opposition parties from developmental activities.

To address this, Kumar said, technologies like the totaliser, already developed by the Commission, would ensure that the votes secured by each candidate - polling station-wise is not disclosed.

"I believe that this matter should be explored, political consensus attempted and tested on a pilot basis to enhance voter secrecy and protect the integrity of the electoral process," he said.