In the bad old days of jungle raj in Bihar, elections were calculated not on the basis of who got more votes, but on which party was able to capture the maximum number of ballot boxes and election booths. The simple law was that ‘might is right’ and muscle power ruled. Officers of the Election Commission (EC) were deployed, but they were immobilised by the threat of violence, or themselves compromised.

The advent of T.N. Seshan, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) for six crucial years, from December 1990 to December 1996, helped to significantly improve matters. He was a tough administrator and came down heavily on malpractices such as bribing and intimidation of voters, distribution of alcohol, use of government machinery or agencies for electioneering, appealing to voter’s caste or communal feelings, misuse of places of worship for campaigning, and use of loudspeakers and high-volume music without written permission. He also insisted on the strict enforcement of an election code of conduct, where voters had to produce valid ID cards, the expenditure of candidates was monitored, and officials were deputed for election duty from outside the state where elections were being held.

During his tenure, 1488 candidates were disqualified for not submitting their expenditure accounts, and 14,000 debarred for providing false information. Political parties, leaders and candidates were mortally afraid of his ethical inflexibility. In fact,........

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