New Delhi: India’s marathon general elections, spread over 44 days, are finally over. Pulling off this exercise is quite something—it needs months of preparations, training and procurement of supplies. In fact, how the Election Commission of India, the constitutional body empowered to conduct elections, executes this every five years could be a case study in efficient supply-chain management.
To understand the nuances of the process, we spent the last two months speaking to experts like Sunil Arora, a former chief election commissioner, district magistrates, sub-divisional magistrates and block development officers from various parts of the country. District magistrates can function as returning officers during elections—they are responsible for overseeing the polls in a constituency.
We also travelled a fair bit. One trip was 652km long, from Delhi to Nako, a village at 12,000 ft, in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district.
The gruelling 16 hour drive to the village, which is close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, gave us a sense of what it takes to conduct the elections. There are 448 registered voters in Nako; 338 of them cast their vote during the elections. But our first stop on the way was an even smaller village, Ka. There are 16 voters and 14 of them cast their vote at a polling booth set up in a run down two-storey school building, circled by snow capped mountains.
Amit Kumar Sharma, the district magistrate of Kinnaur, showed us a warehouse in his government bungalow called Vachat Bhawan, in Reckong Peo, the headquarters of the district. “It’s where electronic voting machines (EVMs) are kept,” he said. Guidelines from the Election Commission state that a warehouse storing EVMs shouldn’t have a window. “There were windows in our warehouse. We had them removed,” Sharma said.
Hilly terrains pose more challenges. Snowfall, for instance, can disconnect or damage polling booths. Now, there is an optional home voting facility. Any eligible citizen aged 85 and above or with 40% benchmarked disability, can avail the provision of home voting. But it requires a contingent of polling staff and security personnel. In the mountains, it is often difficult to reach these voters.
But the rule books from the Election Commission are robust and it helps the district administration execute to a tee. “A robust system is already in place. We just need to follow what is written, and everything automatically falls in place,” Sharma said. “Election is like a big fat Indian wedding. We all enjoy it no matter how challenging it is.”
Here’s how the process works, from the initial days of boardroom planning till the time results are declared.
1. Seven Months Ago
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A dedicated team from the Election Commission’s office in Delhi starts gearing up six months before the elections. This team conducts comprehensive assessments of various factors across states and territories, including social conditions, infrastructure and weather, to ensure smooth conduct of the electoral process. At the state level, chief electoral officers analyse local factors that could impact polls.
2. Initial Meetings
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Special attention is given to areas affected by Left wing extremism. Considerations such as holidays and festivals are factored in when scheduling polling days. Consultations with telecom authorities are held to address network shadow zones or areas with poor connectivity. Education departments are consulted to avoid conflicts with school examinations.
3. Deployment of Security
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The Election Commission uses ‘criticality analysis’ to access polling stations and Central Police Forces (CPF) are deployed accordingly. Past incidents of electoral malpractice and high voter turnout favouring a single candidate guide the identification of critical polling stations. Over 300,000 security personnel are deployed across the country. The Indian Railways helps in cross-country movements.
4. Mapping the Routes
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Months before the commencement of voting, the Election Commission initiates planning to ensure seamless transportation for polling parties, sector officers, zonal magistrates, micro observers and polling forces. Separate route charts are explored for each category of personnel. Every corner of India, from rugged mountains to serene coasts, is accounted for in the mapping exercise.
5. Jeeps, Horses, Boats
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Both private and government-owned vehicles are enlisted. Priority is given to the utilization of cars and jeeps over trucks whenever feasible. Special considerations are made for difficult terrains such as hills, forests, deserts, and seas, with polling parties and security personnel moving on foot, animal back, helicopters, and boats as necessary.
6. Ink and Seal
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Apart from the indelible ink, supplied by Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited, various seals play crucial roles in maintaining the integrity of the electoral process. During different stages, stuff such as the pink paper seal (a security feature used to ensure the integrity of EVMs) and green paper seals (ensures that the compartment containing the memory in which the votes are recorded cannot be accessed) are utilized and have to be procured.
7. Electoral Roll Management
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The Electoral Roll Management System streamlines the preparation and maintenance of rolls, facilitating voter registration, verification, approval. Periodic revisions of the electoral rolls are conducted with reference to the qualifying date of 1 January of each year. De-duplication software is utilized to identify probable duplicate entries in the roll, which are then verified and removed if necessary.
8. The Bible
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One crucial document handed over to the district administration is the District Election Management Plan (DEMP), a guide that uses statistics and analysis to ensure the smooth conduct of elections. It talks of collaboration—among election officials, administrative authorities and law enforcement agencies—and briefings for political parties and media. The plan also focuses on improving polling station accessibility and facilities like ramps, electricity, and water, especially for voters with disabilities and senior citizens.
9. State and District Procurement
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The DEMP also lays out plans for procurement of supplies and logistics needs at the state and district levels. More than 50 items have to be procured. Besides various seals and tags, items such as handbooks and voter registers have to be procured at the state level. The district administration obtains many minor supply items such as matchboxes, ball pens, rubber bands, tapes and envelopes.
10. People Deployment
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Potential election personnel are picked from a district database, managed by the chief electoral officer’s office. The database includes information on employees from the central and state governments, public sector undertakings, and government companies. No two officials from the same department or office are deployed together. Personnel are also not assigned to their home assembly constituencies or current workplaces. Presiding officers must be gazetted or supervisory officers and all officials are classified based on pay, post and rank to ensure that only the experienced manage polling stations.
11. D-Day
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Before elections, EVM checks are done by the engineers of manufacturing firms. Following the close of polls, presiding officers seal the EVMs, the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) and other election materials. The sealed materials are then transported under strict security protocols to designated collection centres for further processing. The district control room plays a pivotal role in coordinating logistics and in communicating with the polling stations.
12. Post Truth
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After voting concludes and results are announced, EVMs undergo sealing in the presence of candidates or their representatives. Ballot units and control units are sealed in their carrying cases while VVPAT slips are stored in black envelopes. Under the custody of the district election officer, they are transported to strong rooms. The rooms have CCTV coverage and double lock systems. EVMs remain stored until the deadline for filing election petitions.
13. Thinking Numbers
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This election, over 5.5 million EVMs were used and 15 million polling officials deployed nationwide. Over a million polling stations were established. According to the Election Commission, 102 villages in Left wing extremism affected Bastar, Chhattisgarh, also had polling stations in their villages and “saw unprecedented voting”. But we just couldn’t take our minds off that dilapidated school building in Ka, where a polling booth was set up for just 16 voters.
