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Question
Organise a mock poll in the school to understand the process of voting .
Solution
Our school witness election every academic year. This year, as the election process was a part of the study, we decided to strictly observe the election processes. The details of the observation are given below:
1. Formation of school squads (which can be related to Formation of Constituencies):
• There were 4 squads namely blue, red, green and pink. It resembled the constituencies in national and state-level elections.
2. Filling of Nominations:
• The nomination of candidates is an important part of the election process.
• The regulations require that the candidate or the person who suggests his name files the nomination papers with the principal (Returning Officer in general election)
• Criteria were set for the qualification of those who become candidates.
3. Scrutiny of Nominations:
• The principal (Returning Officer) scrutinizes the nomination papers very carefully.
• If the eligibility of the student candidate is dissatisfied, he/she is officially stopped from contesting in the election.
• The candidates could withdraw their nomination papers till the prescribed period.
• The security deposit from candidates done in the general elections was not possible in the case of a school election. This step was omitted here.
4. Election Campaign:
Techniques of the election campaign and the tools employed by the squads and the independent candidates are many:
• Election Manifesto
• Electioneering (Activities and Techniques to Persuade Voters)
• Canvassing
• Meet the candidate event
• Class-to-class campaigning
In general elections, the candidates are assigned the tasks like:
• to address public meetings
• street corner meetings
• door-to-door canvassing
• new slogans are coined to attract the masses
• advertisements are released to the press (the popular daily and weekly newspapers)
• Radio and the Television are used to broadcast the speeches and panel-discussions of leaders of various parties
• electronic media plays the most effective role in creating people’s awareness of programs of the political parties
• Attend many interviews to newspapers and television agencies.
• Wide coverage is being given to all these events at regular intervals
5. Polling Personnel and the Polling:
• The election campaign was stopped 48 hours before the time when the poll concludes on the polling day.
• The vice-principal (Presiding Officer) manages the whole of the polling process and guarantee that all persons working under him adhere to the electoral norms and practices.
• The voter records his vote by placing the seal-mark against the name of the candidate he wants to vote. (in general election it is by pressing the button of the voting machine).
6. Counting of Votes and Declaration of Results:
• After the polling has ended the ballot boxes or the voting machines are sealed and carried under custody to the counting stations (concerned classrooms).
• Then the process of counting the votes began.
• The representatives of all the squads were present at the counting point.
• The candidate who obtains the highest number of votes is declared elected.
7. Submission of Account Relating to Election Expenses:
• The school budget law fixes the maximum limit of the expenses to be incurred by various proceedings on their election.
• In general election in India, the limit of election expenses for an Assembly election in most States was raised from Rs. 1.50 lakh to Rs. 6 lakh.
• It was enhanced from Rs. 4.50 lakh to Rs. 15 lakh for a Parliamentary contest.
• The candidates are required to file an account of the election expenses.
• It is a dishonest practice for a candidate to expend more money than the prescribed amount on his election.
• These steps were not present or required in the school election.
8. Election Disputes:
• The concerned teachers and the administrative head formed the election dispute cell in school.
• The Indian Constitution originally provided for the appointment of Election Tribunals for deciding disputes happening in connection with elections.
• The Nineteenth Amendment Act (1966) eliminated this provision and insisted that the election disputes would be decided by the High Courts.
Thus the scrutiny and recording of school election gave us a better understanding of the National election in India
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