The Election Commission’s recent decision to change the rules for appointing polling agents has sparked off a debate in West Bengal.

Who is a Polling Agent?

• A polling agent is a person appointed as a representative of a political party as it is not possible for a candidate to be physically present at every polling booth on the day of the elections.
• Therefore, the Election Commission allows a candidate to appoint a polling agent who keeps an eye on the voting process.

What is his/her role?

• As per the EC’s rules, a polling agent should be familiar with the rules and procedures to conduct elections using EVMs and VVPATs, and with the working of these machines.
• Towards this end, a polling agent attends the demonstrations arranged by the Returning Officer, where the functioning and operation of these machines are explained.

How were they appointed earlier?

• As per the earlier practice, polling agents had to be voters of the same polling stations or at least the neighbouring polling stations of the booth where she has been posted at.

Try this PYQ from CSP 2017:

Q.Consider the following statements:

1. The Election Commission of India is a five member body.
2. Union Ministry of Home Affairs decides the election schedule for the conduct of both general elections and bye-elections.
3. Election Commission resolves the disputes relating to splits/mergers of recognized political parties.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 3 only

Answer: D

What does the new rule say?

• The ECI, revising the rule, has allowed a party to nominate a polling agent for any booth within the assembly segment where the person is an electorate of.
• So, any voter from within an Assembly constituency can be a polling agent of any booth within that constituency.

Issues with the rule

• The political parties are opposing the change in rules, calling it “arbitrary, motivated and biased”.
• They have also written to the Election Commission seeking withdrawal of the order.

What is the EC’s stand?

• The poll body has defended the change in a rule saying that the new norms have been formulated so that every political party gets to appoint polling agents.
• It is difficult to convince people to sit at the booths amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Back2Basics: Election Commission of India (ECI)

• ECI is an autonomous and permanent constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes in India at national and state level.
• The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, State Legislative Councils and the offices of the President and Vice President of the country.
• It operates under the authority of the Constitution per Article 324 and subsequently enacted the Representation of the People Act.
• The commission has the powers under the Constitution, to act in an appropriate manner when the enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with a given situation in the conduct of an election.
• Being a constitutional authority, Election Commission is amongst the few institutions which function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country’s higher judiciary, the UPSC and the CAG.

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