ECI is entrusted with the responsibility of conducting free and fair elections. If democracy is a temple then EC is priest. But conducting elections for such diverse country and frequent elections is not without challenges. The major challenges with the ECI are as follows:
Constitutional loopholes:
- The constitution has not prescribed the qualification of the members of the ECI.
- The © has not specified the term of the members of the EC.
- The © has not debarred the retiring election commissioners from any further appointment by the government.
Capacity:
- Lack of dedicated permanent staff.
- Expenses are not charged on consolidated fund of India.
- Problem faced due to vast territory of India. Sometimes it become difficult to carry out elections in difficult terrain.
Perception:
- Some voters have trust deficit due to frequent use of money and muscle power. There is creditability issues with respect to expenditure during elections.
- Recent allegation of fraud in EVM’s
The reforms bring in by ECI So far:
- SVEEP( explain)
- NOTA
- VVPAT
- Reforms in Nomination filling
- EVM
- National electoral roll purification and Authentication programme: building a completely error-free and authenticated electoral roll.
- National voters service portal : to provide singlewindow services to electors.
- Mobile apps: Matdatta, matdaan, Samadhaan, Sugam,Suvidha, E-netra