This Day | Thirty Years Ago

The Game-Changer MCC-ian T. N. Seshan

12th January 1994

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It’s not every other day that the Hon. Supreme Court cites someone as a role model for others to emulate.

On 22nd November 2022, the honourable judges of the Supreme Court observed that, ‘it wants a CEC of strong character like the late T N Seshan’, observing that, a person like former CEC, the late T N Seshan, ‘happens once in a while’.

We are so proud of our very own MCC-ian! Ain’t we? 😊

Interestingly, almost three decades ago, on this very same day, the Chief Election Commissioner Mr. T. N. Seshan had gone to court over the Congress government’s move to curtail his powers.

Some of the key initiatives he did, were really revolutionary and had a long-lasting impact on Indian politics.

Recommended by Subramania Swamy and appointed by the former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, Seshan once famously said that –

“I had never conducted an election. I went with two principles: zero delay and zero deficiency.”

Quoting from ‘The Wire’ which did a freewheeling interview with the legendary CEC –

During his initial days in office, he had identified over 100 common electoral malpractices, including the preparation of inaccurate election rolls, mistakes in setting up polling stations, coercive electioneering, spending more than the legal limit, using goons to snatch polling booths and general abuse of authority.

The challenges were enormous, but Seshan says they didn’t intimidate him. “I am like a ball. The more you kick me, the more I will bounce back.”

The cleanup began with his own office. Long lunch breaks were banned, and tennis and library during office hours was brought to an end. It was Seshan who began Issuing Identity Cards to voters.

“We [the Election Commission] wanted to issue photo identification cards to all legal voters,” he says.

“The politicians bitterly protested this move, claiming that it was unnecessary and expensive.” After waiting nearly 18 months for the government to act, Seshan announced that if voter identity cards were not issued, no elections would be held after January 1, 1995.

A number of elections were, in fact, postponed for this reason. The Supreme Court eventually interceded and ruled that since voting was an inherent right of citizens, it could not be postponed indefinitely because voters lacked identity cards.

Even so, Seshan’s insistence led the government to start issuing identity cards. By 1996, Seshan’s last year on the job, 2 million voters had ID cards.

During the 1993 Lok Sabha elections, Seshan monitored electoral expenses round the clock from a control room at the Election Commission headquarters.

One of his officers was assigned to each state. Altogether, according to reports, 1,488 candidates for Lok Sabha were disqualified for three years because they failed to submit an account of their expenses.

It was reported that Seshan reviewed more than 40,000 alleged cases of false election returns and disqualified 14,000 potential candidates from public office.

He was impervious to the demands of politicians; so much so that in 1992, when the Commission under him cancelled elections in Bihar and Punjab, some politicians tried to have him impeached to curtail Seshan's powers.

Well, now for some more eventful news that had happened on this particular day –

The Governor of Tamil Nadu Channa Reddy and the CM Jayalalithaa continue to lock horns on a series of issues. ‘The constitutional proprieties of the State are disrespected by Channa’, says Jayalalithaa, [the CM of TN back then].

Indian troops and Pakistan troops continue to exchange heavy fire.

Supreme Court hears plea of Chandralekha.

Haryana cuts off water supply to Delhi.

[Citations are from The Wire]