Ex-Maharashtra poll chief favours axing of SEC in One Nation One Election system | Mumbai news

Mumbai:UPS Madan, who retired as Maharashtra’s state election commissioner two weeks ago, has recommended abolishing the State Election Commission (SEC) and transferring the responsibility of conducting local body elections to the Election Commission of India (ECI) under the proposed ‘One Nation, One Election’ (ONOE) regime.

In his submission to the panel headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, Madan opposed the direct election of chairmen for local bodies such as municipal councils and nagar panchayats. He also objected to the allocation of wards transitioning to single-member constituencies without a census.

However, eight months after his submission, Madan now considers his recommendation irrelevant. “Since the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are to be held separately, the recommendation is no longer applicable,” he said. “The Ramnath Kovind-led panel may have realised the difficulties in holding all elections—Lok Sabha, Assembly, and Local bodies—simultaneously and has recommended conducting them within 100 days.”

Madan appeared before the panel on 12 February this year in his capacity as the commissioner of the Maharashtra SEC. In his suggestions to the ONOE panel, he highlighted the challenges arising from two separate bodies overseeing elections and the logistical demands of such a process.

“Transferring responsibility of conducting elections at all three levels to the ECI. The institution of state election commissioners should be abolished in favour of regional commissioners as provided under article 324(4),” the report submitted by the Kovind-led panel stated, quoting Madan’s submission.

Madan also recommended utilising ballot boxes in rural areas until sufficient electronic voting machines become available. He categorised the challenges into legal, logistical, and other issues, emphasising the complexities arising from two separate bodies (SEC and ECI) overseeing elections. He proposed measures such as implementing a unified electoral law, creating a single voter list, allocating the same polling booths for all levels of elections, and instituting indirect elections for all chairpersons of local bodies.

“In my submission, I said that if elections at all three tier levels are conducted simultaneously, they cannot be held by two different authorities,” Madan explained. “If the Lok Sabha, Assembly, and local body elections are held on the same day, they should be conducted by the ECI, and in that case, the SEC should be abolished. This is now irrelevant as the committee has recommended the elections be held within 100 days. They must have realised that holding all the elections on the same day was not possible.”

Madan also recommended conducting a census before any changes in ward allocations, transitioning to single-member wards.

According to officials from the SEC, if the government wishes to change the existing system of conducting local body polls, it will require a constitutional amendment. “The system of conducting elections for local bodies and the constitution of the SEC came into effect after the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments. Abolition of the constitutional post of commissioner will need another amendment,” an official said.

The official added, “The central government will also have to consider if the ECI will be in a position to conduct polls for thousands of local bodies. It will also have to decide if the regional commissioners mandated in article 324(4) will have the autonomy to take decisions, unlike the current system in which election officers have no power to make decisions at the state level.”

Meanwhile, ruling parties in Maharashtra, including the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, have supported the idea of ONOE. Regional opposition parties like the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) have either opposed the idea or not responded to the appeal.