TN Seshan, the man is known and credited for rebuilding the Indian electoral system to work as an independent and credible agency. He revamped the whole system when the Indian elections were flooded with booth rigging and misuse of the government machinery.
Before he was appointed as the 10th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) in 1990, TN Seshan had served as the 18th Cabinet Secretary of India in 1989. He was an IAS officer of 1955 batch from Tamil Nadu cadre. He held the CEC office from 1990 to 1996.
Some of the regulations that are stricter and helped make the electoral system transparent and fair are:
No bribing or intimidating voters
No distribution of liquor during the elections
No use of official machinery for campaigning
No appealing to voters' caste or communal feelings
No use of religious places for campaigns
No use of loudspeakers without prior written permission.
During his time as teh 10th Indian CEC, he enforced the Model Code of Conduct for candidates and political parties. The model worked up ways to regulate ways of campaigning that left little to no space for malpractices, the regulations are:
Monitored limits on poll expenses
Issues voter ids for eligible voters
Ban on wall graffiti
TN Seshan soon became a known name by the masses who hailed him for cracking down on several manipulative tactics. He once said in an interview, "I had never conducted an election. I went with two principles: zero delay and zero deficiency.” He rightly followed through with both principles during his tenure. His strict policies earned him the title “Al Seshan.”
However, the same actions that garnered him praise from the citizens made him the most disliked CEC by most political leaders and parties. Under his watch, a serving Governor had to resign for campaigning for his son. Even the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary had to answer for publishing an advertisement in a newspaper at the cost of public exchequer.
TN Seshan was criticized for allegedly overstepping his boundaries as the sitting CEC for recommending the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao to sack two of his ministers- Sitaram Kesri and Kalpanath Rai. Seshan said that the two ministers had influenced the voters, however, PM Rao did not act on the suggestion.
In the 1994 elections, more than 20 cases were registered against candidates in Karnataka’s Gulbarga district for not filing daily expenditure reports. Another constituency saw the suspension of three officers for covertly aligning with candidates.
He also implicated Dry days six days before the elections in all states to curtail the manipulation and earning of favours from the voters.
In 1996, Seshan was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award for "his resolute actions to bring order, fairness, and integrity to elections in India, the world's largest democracy. In asserting the authority and independence of the Election Commission, Seshan locked horns with India's Supreme Court and has feuded bitterly with the country's politicians, leading to more than one attempt to impeach him."
Sadly, TN Seshan, the CEC, known for his iron-clad restrictions and as the 'No-nonsense Seshan', at the age of 86 succumbed to a cardiac arrest at his Chennai residence on Sunday.
