Election Commission and the Constitution

Alok Prasanna Kumar wrote two informative pieces on the Election Commission of India (EC). When the constitution was being framed, there was a debate whether each state should have its own EC to oversee state/assembly elections. Why was such an option even considered? Some wanted it since they favoured a federal structure, while others argued it would be impractical for the Center to conduct state elections.

“Biswanath Das pointed to the logistical difficulties of conducting an election at the state level without involving state governments and therefore, he argued, state elections should be left to the states.”

 

The 1948 draft of the constitution called for multiple EC’s, at national and state levels. Remember the drafts and contents of the constitution were debated in the Constituent Assembly (CA) – so how what changed their mind by the time the constitution was framed in 1950? Kumar’s second article answers that. In 1949, during the CA debates on the constitution, Ambedkar sprung a surprise by proposing a single Election Commission. Why had he changed his mind?

“Ambedkar launched into a solid defence, arguing that the change was necessary because of the tendency of state governments (which was becoming evident even then) to favour one group that was dominant in a state over others in the matter of preparing electoral rolls.”

 

What were these instances that Ambedkar was talking of?

“What Ambedkar was talking about was the process of drawing up of the very first electoral rolls, even before India got its Constitution… (He) points out the hostility of Assamese to Bengali settlers in Assam getting on the electoral lists… (Ambedkar) revealed that it was the experience of malpractices in Assam and Bengal, which had been widely reported at that time, which had been widely reported at that time, which prompted this change between 1948 and 1949.”

 

Not everyone was convinced. H V Pataskar argued one shouldn’t tar all states based on a couple of such examples, that state level Election Commissions was the right choice. The CA vote went in favour of Ambedkar’s single EC proposal.

 

Kumar ends by saying:

“Seeing how the shape of the Election Commission changed from 1947 to 1949 tells us how the framers of the Constitution went from being idealists to pragmatists. They realised that governance and nation-building require making difficult choices about which principles to give more importance over others. While they cherished the principle of federalism, they took the view that the democratic principle of free and fair elections comes above all else.”