On the final day of his eventful term as the State Election Commissioner (SEC) on Wednesday, N. Ramesh Kumar recommended certain changes to the election law for efficient management of polls, and measures to enhance transparency and reduce opaqueness and bias in the system.
He sent a draft of these recommendations to the Governor, Special Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Panchayat Raj) and Principal Secretary (Municipal Administration & Urban Development) for necessary action.
Addressing the mediapersons, Mr. Ramesh Kumar said the most important one was to set up a three- member collegium, comprising a judge of the High Court, that suggests a panel of names to be chosen by the Governor as the SEC.
He said a provision was needed in the A.P. Panchayat Raj (APPR) Act, 1994, and the Municipal Acts that would vest complete responsibility as well as determination of all matters pertaining to the elections with the commission.
This, he insisted, would improve the election environment by centralising all the related decision-making processes in due consultation with the State government and political parties.
Further, Mr. Ramesh Kumar said the Constitutional provisions related to the local body elections contained in Articles 243-E(3) and 243-U(3) should be strictly complied with, and an enabling provision be made for it in the APPR and Municipal Acts.
The SEC said the concurrence of the commission should be obtained in writing for the appointment of person- in-charges in case the elections could not be held as per schedule due to natural calamities, or other compelling reasons, but this interim arrangement should not be for more than six months.
The other recommendations made by Mr. Ramesh Kumar are for vesting the determination of reservations and preparation of electoral rolls with the commission exclusively.
Mr. Ramesh Kumar went on to press for full financial and functional autonomy to the commission, and said its mandate should be duly recognised by the government.
He said the State administrative machinery should be completely accountable to the commission in the same manner as the Central administrative machinery was accountable to the Election Commission of India in the light of the Supreme Court judgment in the Kishan Singh Tomar v/s Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad.
The SEC said the old and tested 21-day schedule for elections should be brought back as the abridged 15-day schedule was found to be lacking in transparency as well as a level-playing field for the stakeholders.
Besides, he suggested that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) should be the preferred mode of elections to the urban local bodies. “The government has to allot funds to the commission for procuring EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails,” he said.
