No plans to defer Bihar elections: CEC Sunil Arora

The Election Commission will increase the use of digital and media platforms and limit voters in polling booths to conduct elections in the midst of the pandemic, says Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora. In an email interview with Prerna Katiyar, the retired 1980 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre says the commission has also requested the law ministry to allow postal ballots for people above the age of 65. Edited excerpts:
Covid-19 has made social distancing a part of everyday life now. How is the Election Commission (EC) planning to conduct polls?
We will have to constantly reassess the procedures that we follow at various stages. A team of EC officials is working on these aspects right now. All instructions and electoral processes will be suitably modified to ensure smooth functioning during the pandemic. We will conduct elections without breaking the orders, advisories, instructions and guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Any rule in force during the period of the election process will be followed. The Election Commission will take appropriate arrangements regarding social distancing, sanitisation, disinfection and use of masks, gloves, etc. All officials on election duty are being duly sensitised about Covid-19 and related precautions. The poll panel’s flagship Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation programme is being suitably modified. We will step up the use of digital technologies to spread voter awareness and training. The commission will make greater use of digital and media platforms, including bulk SMSes, social media platforms, television advertising, FM and community radios, the National Voter Service Portal and the voter helpline app to reach out to as many people as possible.

Is there a possibility that the Bihar assembly elections, due in October-November, or the bypolls due in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar might be postponed due to the pandemic?

The by-elections for legislative assemblies and Parliament due in April, May and June had to be deferred because of the pandemic. The commission will decide on conducting by-polls in various states at the appropriate time. At the moment, no plan is being considered to defer Bihar elections. Necessary preparations are underway at the Election Commission to conduct the polls.

State elections involve mass gatherings and public rallies. What measures are the EC taking on this front?
No matter what we do, all stakeholders will have to collectively ensure that the relevant safety guidelines issued by the NDMA and public health authorities are followed in letter and spirit. The commission, on its part, will ensure that a standard operating procedure is made and followed at all stages.

The EC is also looking at rationalisation of polling stations and a reduction in the number of electors at each polling station. This will avoid crowding. Currently, Bihar has 72,723 polling stations to cater to approximately 7.18 crore electors. Different permutations and combinations are being worked upon, factoring in the number of people at each polling station, the additional manpower requirement and the associated infrastructure augmentation. For example, if the electors per polling station are capped at 800, around 55,000 additional polling stations would be required.

All ECI guidelines pertaining to electoral machinery, voters, political parties, candidates and other stakeholders are being modified. Training and capacitybuilding of electoral machinery are being planned accordingly. There will be appropriate signage and displays at all polling stations. These rules will be applicable to all elections that will be conducted during the pandemic period.

While most people would take precautions to keep themselves safe during voting, older people might stay away as they carry a higher risk of catching the novel coronavirus. That could mean a large section of people are excluded from this democratic process.
Postal ballots are a way to ensure vulnerable sections of society such as senior citizens and differently-abled people are not exposed to undue risk. Widening the eligibility criteria for postal ballots will help in safe conduct of elections by minimising congregation. The Election Commission has already recommended to the Ministry of Law and Justice that voters above the age of 65 be also allowed to cast votes through the postal method.

The Rajya Sabha elections due on June 19 will be the first major elections after the outbreak of Covid-19. What change in procedures will be introduced for these?
The commission has already conducted MLC elections in Maharashtra in May. So we have some experience in this. During that process, all arrangements were made according to the statutory requirements of public health authorities.

The state was asked to depute a senior nodal health officer to ensure that instructions related to the containment of Covid-19 were adhered to. On the direction of the commission, the Union home secretary, who is the chairperson of the National Executive Committee of NDMA, appointed a nodal officer to facilitate the process.

We will conduct the Rajya Sabha elections in a similar manner. Chief secretaries of the states concerned have been asked to depute nodal health officers to ensure public health norms are not breached. Each state may have a different set of norms with regard to the pandemic and the lockdown. All the rules regarding social distancing and sanitisation will be followed.

Every elector will be informed in advance appropriately of the dos and don’ts. The chief electoral officers of states would act as observers for these elections.

How are you harnessing technology to help you conduct elections through limited human contact?
All facilities relating to information technology are being further augmented to handle the extra usage. The Election Commission has already set up a technical advisory group that includes eminent experts from IITs and other places to work on a solution to enable remote voting using secure blockchain features. However, it is too early to say when this will be ready for implementation.