Polls and processes: on Assembly by-elections, the ECI
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s wins in Visavadar and Ludhiana West are significant for a party that lost power in Delhi, its original stronghold, in February. Its MLA in Visavadar had defected to the BJP, and the renewed mandate helps AAP retain its stake in State politics. Its former State president Gopal Italia is the winner. AAP's former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament and industrialist Sanjeev Arora won the Ludhiana West seat in a State it rules. The BJP retained Kadi. The by-polls were also notable for the new initiatives by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to reinforce the integrity of the electoral process and make it more accessible. These include mobile deposit facility for the electors at all polling stations, upgraded voter turnout sharing process resulting in faster updating of the approximate polling trends, and most significantly, webcasting at 100% of polling stations. The issues of disputes over heavy polling in sensitive booths in the concluding hours of voting and transparency related to video records of booth activities remain, and the ECI must continue to take proactive measures to not only be fair but also to be seen so.
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