Public Ownership of Democracy
How to ensure that the public takes ownership of democracy: Voter registration, voter turnout, ethical voting, citizen watch etc.
Host's First Message (June 25, 2018)
State Election Commission, Maharashtra (SECM) proposes to host an International Conference of Election Commissioners / Authorities, responsible for conducting elections to the Local Self Government in order to share and disseminate the best practices adopted by the various democratic countries. This is probably the first attempt of its kind in the world towards making better elections for healthier democracy.
Maharashtra is one of the biggest & most developed states of India having nearly 10% of population of the country. SEC Maharashtra returns more than 250 thousands elected representatives every 5 years in 388 Urban and 28,166 Rural Local Self Governments through more than 80 million electors. This mammoth task is done successfully with the help of all the stakeholders of democracy like political parties, voters, election managers, candidates, media, NGOs, Corporates etc.
SEC Maharashtra has made continuous innovations to provide level playing field to all the political parties and candidtes to ensure the purity of elections.
Realising the urgent need for all the democratic countries having Local Self Government to come on a single platform to discuss various issues of common concern, SEC Maharashtra proposes to host the above Conference at Mumbai which is well connected with all the major cities of the world.
We would be extremely happy if the Election Commissioners / Authorities could give suggestions for making the said Conference a success, besides enthusiastically participating in the same.
Keep Visiting our Web-site for regular updates.
Shri. Jageshwar S. Saharia, State Election Commissioner
State Election Commission, Maharashtra
Elections in India
India, a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic with a Parliamentary system, adopted its constitution on 26th January 1950.
India, the largest democracy in the world with a three tier democratic structure of Governance i.e. National, Regional and Local Self-Government, comprises of 29 States and 7 Union Territories.
The House of People (Lok Sabha) at the National level has presently 543 members who are directly elected by the people of India. 66.4% (out of nearly 834 Million) voters exercised their right during the General Elections to Parliament in 2014.
Legislatures of the various States have similarly, directly elected members at the Regional level (Vidhan Sabhas). State Legislature, Maharashtra has presently got 288 elected members.
At the Local Self-Government level, India has got separate bodies both for Urban and Rural areas where Elections are conducted by the respective State Election Commissions.
Maharashtra has got 388 urban local self governments (Municipal Corporations, Nagar Parishads and Nagar Panchayats) and 28,166 rural local self governments (Zilla Parishads, Panchayat Samitis and Gram Panchayats) more than 250 thousand elected representatives.
Elections to Local Self-Governments, Maharashtra.
Elections to National and Regional Governments in India ( i.e. Parliament and State Legislatures) are conducted by the National Election Commission ( i.e. Election Commission of India) since adoption of Constitution in 1950. However, elections to the Local Self-Governments were conducted by the respective State Governments till 1992.
Realising the need to provide the Local Self-Governments their rightful place in the process of Nation building, Indian Constitution was amended in the year 1992 (73rd and 74th Amendments) providing for the following-
- Constitutional status to all the Local Self-Governments in the country.
- Reservation for women (minimum 33%) and backward classes (as per population).
- Compulsory election before the expiry of five years term.
- An independent Election Commission for conducting elections to all the Local Self-Governments in a free, fair and transparent manner, and
- A Finance Commission for recommending devolution of finances to the Local Self-Governments.
In pursuance to above, State Election Commission, Maharashtra was constituted as an independent Constitutional Authority in 1994. Elections to all the local self-Governments (approximately 28000 with more than 250 thousands seats, through approximately 80 million voters) are being conducted by the State Election Commission in a free, fair and transparent manner.
