Join us for a web chat with N. Gopalaswami, former Chief Election Commissioner, as we discuss various facets of the electoral process, the EC's functioning and broader electoral reforms.
4:58
The Hindu: Hello and welcome to the live chat with Mr. N. Gopalaswami, former Chief Election Commissioner.
4:59
The Hindu: During this chat, we will be discussing the various facets of the electoral process, the Election Commission's functioning and broader electoral reforms.
5:02
N.Gopalaswami: Hello ,this is Gopalaswami good evening to all
5:02
The Hindu: We also have with us Mr. Vasanth Srinivasan, senior editor, The Hindu, who will be talking to Mr. Gopalaswami on this issue.
5:02
Vasanth Srinivasan: Good evening Sir! Great to have you with us!
5:03
The Hindu: Mr. Vasanth will be discussing a few aspects of the EC's functioning with Mr. Gopalaswami, after which we will open the forum for questions from our readers.
5:04
Vasanth Srinivasan: What changes do you see in the EC in terms of its powers and functioning since the time you demitted office?
5:05
N.Gopalaswami: While not much change to ECI’s powers has been there –most problems still remain as Govt.s have not agreed on amendments to Law , ECI has had to contend with issue of freebies and ‘bribing’ of voters – mostly in TN.An area ECI has concentrated is in trying to increase polling percentages and certainly there has been an increase in polling.
5:05
Vasanth Srinivasan: So are you saying the EC has not been very successful in curbing money power in the elections, due to various constraints?
5:07
N.Gopalaswami: Not much and for good reasons,the ECI cannot with its limited manpower and also a small window of operation find an answer to the problem of money power that is the result of control of levers of power as the opportunity to ‘rent seeking’ – which is what our ‘democracy’ has unfortunately come to signify for most part .
5:07
Vasanth Srinivasan: Now, the EC is conducting raids in conjunction with IT officials. Is this something that could have been done earlier? Also, will this move lose the "surprise" element gradually?
5:09
N.Gopalaswami: ECI cannot start this operation unless elections are called by their announcement and by them much ‘water’ would have in anyway flown in all ‘rivers’. So this exercise will have only a limited impact on ‘money power’ issue. It is evident as far as TN is concerned that but for the ‘Karur and Egmore hauls’ elsewhere much of what has been seized is returned after production of documents, indicating procedural issues were the reason for those ‘catches’.
Political parties learn fast and will find ways to evade and so while 'first ' strike nmay be a surprise that wers off fast
5:10
Vasanth Srinivasan: The issue of not having "own staff" has always been a problem. But can we ever have an EC that big to take care of all election-related tasks? Is there a work around?
5:13
N.Gopalaswami: No it is not practical and economical to have a huge staff for once in 5 year election. It is more the punitive steps that have to be wielded to create the impact and voters esp the young can also make the difference if they speak against the money and freebie culture
5:13
Vasanth Srinivasan: Got it.
5:14
Vasanth Srinivasan: EC's transfer of officials has also been a subject of heated debate. Some are saying it's been an overreaction and say EC has succumbed to pressure by some political parties. Your take...
5:16
N.Gopalaswami: EC carefully looks into the background of officers and information gathering does not wait on parties complaint.It is independently done over a period of time as 'removals' have to be matched by ' inductions' and that cannot be done at the last minute. Immediate placing of officers will indicate that EC has already done a lot of home work.
5:17
Vasanth Srinivasan: What do think of opinion and exit polls? Do they influence voters and vitiate fair polls?
5:18
N.Gopalaswami: In my view opinion polls do influence voting decision – esp. the ‘floating’ voter and and as time passes more and more will be in ‘floating ‘ category esp. the young and new voters and so some kind of restraint is necessary.
Exit polls will certainly influence voters as these are perceived to be a little more accurate and so they have been embargoed till the last voting day
5:18
Vasanth Srinivasan: Interesting observation!
5:19
Vasanth Srinivasan: in terms of electoral reforms, what do you think is the most pressing issue that needs to be addressed first
5:20
N.Gopalaswami: While many outstanding issues are there I would list the following as pressing at this juncture
Political party related reforms - Inner party democracy, Transparency in political funding and the party accounts and their audit thro’ CAG and weeding out non-serious parties to prevent misuse of party registration and symbols
5:21
Vasanth Srinivasan: "weeding out non-serious parties"...how do you propose to do that? Based on votes polled?
5:23
N.Gopalaswami: there are as many as 1700 registered parties as of now - not more than 350-400 actually contest . Non-contesting parties should be de-registered but acc. to a verdict of SC , EC can register but not de-register.EC has been suggesting powers to de-register.
5:24
Vasanth Srinivasan: NOTA has been gaining ground fast. Do you think it's time we started looking at some kind of "negative voting" as well?
5:25
N.Gopalaswami: NOTA , if it gathers embarassingly high number of votes , that will be the time to consider that itself as negative voting and go for relection. But as of now this is in the realm of speculation.
5:26
The Hindu: Well, that was an interesting insight!
5:26
The Hindu: We will now invite questions from our readers.
5:27
Comment From Manoj
Is there any option for EC to stop parties from announcing freebies in their manifesto? restricting it certain fields?
5:29
N.Gopalaswami: No option with EC as SC had said in its verdict that that cannot be stopped but advised parties to provide full financial details of how they will meet the expenditure. For the time being we will have to just 'lump' it if parties give a cock and bull story of how they will arrange finances.
5:29
Comment From Jagan
why not make political parties subject to breach of trust on the poll promises?
5:30
Comment From Mayur
Good Evening Sir what do you think on PM's suggestion to Hold Assembly and General Election together???
5:31
N.Gopalaswami: Snuch action will lie within the realm of courts and as of now there is no law that can lead to disqualification or any punishment for not fulfilling election-time promises and in the absence of law no action can be taken. And no party will pass such law!!
5:32
N.Gopalaswami: simultaneous elections are desirable but there are many hurdles to realising it
5:33
anubhav singh@lucifer_damned@the_hindu Wouldn't Justice Venkatachaliah's recommendations on FPTP combined with valid NOTA votes be a better system ? #THChat
5:34
N.Gopalaswami: I think J.V's commission suggested 50% plus one vote for the winner and that is highly desirable and it can be combined with NOTA too.
5:35
Comment From shunmugam
How you view the elections 2016 Tamilnadu compared to the elections held during your period
5:35
Comment From Guest
Sir, You have given NOTA power to the democracy but it is like an arrow without a sharp head.
5:37
N.Gopalaswami: NOTA is not what you imagined it to be ; it was just to protect the identity of the voter but it has now fored up the imagination of the young voters who have desired it to be more 'telling' and that is welcome.We should now demand for it to be viewed as negative voting and get a law to that effect
5:38
N.Gopalaswami: TN elections have become more complicated as the cat and mouse game of ' bribing ' voters has taken the state and elections here into a deeper and deeper abyss
5:39
Chennai Connect@ChennaiConnectIf you went solely by manifesto logic in Tamil Nadu, whose would you be voting for? bit.ly/1s7aSPr pic.twitter.com/y5HqiSI8J9
5:39
Comment From Guest
Isn't the current cap on election expenses of 30lakh Rs/candidate very generous for a developing country like ours. Will that not adversely affect the prospects of poor candidates ?
5:39
Vasanth Srinivasan: In terms of voter awareness, do you think we have improved as a nation?
5:40
N.Gopalaswami: hi hi! I firmly believe in keeping my preference confidential!!
The Hindu: Haha absolutely. But this just something to see which way the wind is blowing!
5:41
N.Gopalaswami: jokes apart most the manifestoes are like grandma's gown - all things to all people , without focus and hugely out of tune with the financial status of the state.
5:43
Comment From jaison
Can there be any rationale for allowing one candidate to contest from two constituencies? How to correct the rule 'section 33 of the Representation of People Act, 1951'?
5:44
N.Gopalaswami: The candidates give an expenditure statement that shows less than half the ceiling as being utilised and that means that the increase in the first intance wass not caled for and in any case all of them are going to bluff!1aps on expd are decided by the legislature and the joke is as found out by the EC most candid
5:46
N.Gopalaswami: I agree that now the time has come to reduce '2' to one; earlier from may it came down to 3 and 2 now.
5:47
Comment From Royston Fernandes
In your opinion does a phased election help benefit the favorable political parties - in terms of setting voting trends? Wont a single phase election be more genuine?
5:48
Comment From Chandu rajarajan
What powers you think that EC additionally requires for effective functioning?
5:50
N.Gopalaswami: to a recent article in Hindu phased polls help parties to 'recover' lost ground. But phased polls are not EC's choice. It is more that circumstances that force EC's hands. I long for the day when our politicians and parties treat election not as warfare and we then can have a single day poll all over the country like USA or Australia
5:53
Comment From Tatwam
The fairness and transparency of elections held at Municipality and Panchayat levels have been called into question several times. What can be done to bring the standards of elections held at these levels, to the national level?
5:53
N.Gopalaswami: Mostly the reforms related to political parties and also the power to combine counting of votes of many polling stations instead of polling station-wise counting.The EC had , in my time, got a machine - Totaliser - ready to combine 14 polling stations results in one go. That will prevent booth-management exercise and post-poll vengenace too .
5:54
Comment From mohamed
Whats your take on minimum qualification for MPs and MLAs?
5:55
N.Gopalaswami: The ststae Govt .s have constantly sniped at the powers of state Election Commissioners and have starved them of funds and also made provions of law difficult for state ECs to fuction independently .May be that should also come to EC I
5:57
N.Gopalaswami: Prescribing qualifications for MLAs and MPs is called for as they have to function effectively in Parliament/Legislature.
5:58
Vasanth Srinivasan: You have also been quite vocal about your displeasure with the Government over its stand on the issue of EC scrutiny of election expenditure, particularly powers under Section 10A
of RPA in light of the Ashok Chawan case. Your thoughts...
6:01
N.Gopalaswami: S.10A gave powers to ECI and SC also confirmed it but when first EC started using it Govt.s have developed cold feet as now there is a possibility that people can be disqualified by EC itself in some cases and so there is panic. It is unfortunate that Govt.s are trying to take away what Law has given.
6:01
Vasanth Srinivasan: Unfortunate indeed
6:02
The Hindu: Well, this has been a highly informative chat. And I'm sure our readers will feel the same.
6:02
The Hindu: Thank you Mr. Gopalaswami, for taking time out from your schedule to answer our readers' questions.
6:02
Vasanth Srinivasan: Thanks for your insights sir!
6:02
N.Gopalaswami: I have enjoyed the interactions thoroughly .Thanks
6:04
The Hindu: Please visit our elections page, https://www.thehindu.com/ele... for complete coverage of the Assembly polls this year.
6:04
The Hindu: Follow us on Twitter at @the_hindu.
6:04
The Hindu: Once again, thank you all for participating.
