AN UNDOCUMENTED WONDER : The Making of the Great Indian Elections

by S.Y. Quraishi

In Bihar—History of security breaches and booth capturing, low voter turnouts particularly among females. This was handled by holding elections in seven phases and the deployment of central armed police forces, leading to the most peaceful polls in the state ever. Voter education programmes were launched for the first time leading to the highest turnout in history. In West Bengal—Maoist insurgency, political violence and politicization of the bureaucracy due to the continuous rule of a political formation for thirty-four years. Our response was to hold the elections in seven phases with massive deployment of central armed police forces weeks before the polls and sending IPS observers to the state for the first time ever in the country. In Tamil Nadu—The misuse of monetary power in elections. This was tackled by strict enforcement of the new expenditure guidelines and a strong contingent of expenditure observers. In Uttar Pradesh—History of poll violence and booth capturing, low voter turnout, low literacy, low female voter turnout and low registration of youth. The measures taken were a seven-phase polls with deployment of central armed police and a massive voter education programme. In Punjab—Besides money, alcohol, muscle and gun power, drugs was a serious issue, otherwise not found elsewhere in the country. Special task forces to detect drugs led to the seizure of over 50 kg of heroin, among other hard drugs. In Manipur—Insurgency related threats and poll violence, bogu...