There was a time when money power and muscle power dominated the elections. Whoever was more powerful, the election would have been his part. Through booth capturing, votes were forcefully cast in their favor and the conscience of the voters was influenced by distributing money and liquor etc. All this went on smoothly till the year 1990. After this comes the new Chief Election Commissioner- TN Seshan.
TN Seshan first took the initiative to strictly follow the code of conduct for conducting fair and free elections. Because of this, politicians started getting irritated with him. The then Congress leaders Sitaram Kesari and Kalpanath Rai were engaged in influencing voters in their respective constituencies. Seeing this, T.N. Be stern with Seshan. After this, he agreed only on the assurance of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.
There was so much fear in the minds of politicians that they made a provision for two Election Commissioners to limit their powers. Still, this did not stop his campaign of electoral reforms. It was the result of his efforts that booth capturing in various elections in India almost ended.
What was the reason for booth capturing in elections?
In fact, at that time the paramilitary force was not used as much in the conduct of elections as it is done now. Therefore, the dominant leader of the electoral area used to scare the voters with his muscle power. This allows the voter to cast his vote for the same candidate.
Since the use of paramilitary forces in the elections, these activities came under control. Today there is no scope for such activities in elections!
Against the electoral reforms of TN Seshan, the middle class considers him as their hero. Before him, no bureaucrat had shown such fearlessness and he reformed the system which sends the people’s representatives of India to the Parliament and the Legislative Assembly. Later T.N. Seshan was also given a prestigious award like Ramon Magsaysay for his reform work.
T. N. It is because of Seshan’s electoral reforms that the history of the Election Commission of India is remembered as – TN. Before Seshan, the Election Commission or T.N. Election Commission after Seshan. He himself used to say about himself that I eat politicians for breakfast.
Aspirants preparing for a civil service should also develop these moral qualities within themselves. In this era, there is a great need for such civil servants, while the civil servants are constantly accused that they are not being honest in their work.