Poll machine and the people | The Indian Express

Poll machine and the people | The Indian Express

Written by M. Rajivlochan |Published: April 15, 2019 12:23:35 am

The writer is at the department of history, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Poll machine and the people

Aam aadmi, not just government officials, should be part of the conduct of elections to end distrust.

A polling officer puts indelible ink mark on the finger of a voter. (AP/File)

Elections in India are conducted entirely by the machinery of the government, which is taken over for the purpose by the Election Commission. This has resulted in the common people of the country having no experience of how polling actually takes place. Keeping the common people away from the actual conduct of the election has provided a chance to interested parties to make wild claims about how vitiated the entire electoral process is.