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NEED FOR ELECTORAL
REFORMS IN INDIAA BACKGROUND PAPER
M. Vijaya Kumar
All India Progressive Forum (AIPF)www//progressiveforum.in
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The electoral system in any country should support and
strengthen the empowerment of the people of the country
to exercise the system to guarantee an equitable frameworkof economic and social justce.
Published by
Devdasa Rao
HIG No. 51stFloor, STARCITY CAR BUILDING80 FEET DOUBLE ROADRMV 2ndSTAGEBANGALORE 560 094Telephone No. : 09844183166Email : [email protected]
ForAll India Progressive Forum
Price Rs. 20/-
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PREFACE
ALL INDIA PROGRESSIVE FORUM (AIPF) provides a platorm for debates by
progressive intellectuals in Indiaonissues of natonalconcern. It is built by a
group of intellectuals commied to promote development, and welfare ofthe people of India by oering a plaorm for free and open debate on social,
polical, economic or cultural issues of naonal concern. The polical space
of the Forum is inclusive of patriosm, jusce, solidarity with people of all
naons, and human rights. It also acts as a channel for disseminaon of
ideas and informaon which could be used as tools for change by a wide
secon of the people, policians to grass-root acvists, bureaucrats or policy
makers. The architects of the Forum believe that from a free, democracand transparent discussion will emerge direcons for building a new India,
where science and technology are built upon through a right balance of
tradional culture and modern values to nurture a new society for human
development and peace.
AIPF is in the process of building up public plaorms for discussions on some
of the crucial issues which aect the lives of people in India. Stakeholdersand professionals are brought on to the same plaorm with the objecve of
preparing policy documents on topics of naonal concern.
The present pamphlet on electoral reform is one such discussion document.
The content has been discussed by the (adhoc) Naonal Execuve Commiee
(NEC) of the AIPF. The original dra was prepared by M. Vijaya Kumar, Vice
President of AIPF who incorporated comments and suggesons received
from other members of the Naonal Execuve Commiee. The present
document on Electoral Reform is the outcome of a series of brainstorming
sessions with a wide cross secon of people including intellectuals, lawyers,
academicians and the public. Anil Rajimwale, Dr. Thara.K.G., Aswini
Bakshi and Yugal Rayalu made major contribuons towards preparing
this pamphlet.
S.K.BISWAS
President AIPF
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CONTENT
Why an electoral reform?1.
Electoral System in India2.
Polical Pares in India - Changing Face3.
Elecon Commission of India on Electoral Reform4.
A new electoral strategy5.
The raonale
AIPF recommendaons for a reformed electoral system
AppendixReference material Electoral Reform
President K.R.Narayanan (1999)
V.K.Tarakunde Commiee (1974-75)
Dinesh Goswami Commiee (1990)
Jusce V.R.Krishna Iyer Commiee (1994)
Indrajit Gupta Commiee (1998)
Law Commission Report (1998)
Jusce Kuldeep Singh Panel (2002)
Suggesons by academics, scholars, lawyers and journalists.
Suggesons by Anna Hazare
M. Vijaya Kumar He is an electrical engineer who has served as a senior
manager in one of Indias largest public sector enterprises. He lives in
Hyderabad and is a founder member of AIPF.
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1. WHY AN ELECTORAL REFORM?
The structure and process of governance of the people in a naon
chosen by the people of that naon. Governance is aimed to ensure
the welfare of the People, in India the constuon was framed to
ensure welfare by an equitable distribuon of naonal wealth and
resources. Polical pares are indispensable in parliamentary
democracy. There are 1,200 polical pares in India and of these
about 150 are acve and funconing.
Post-independence India has emerged as a sovereign state with a
well developed strategic sector and a growth in basic infrastructure.
However a small minority of the populaon has prospered hugely
while the quality of lives of the majority has deteriorated. This is
reected in massive rural unemployment, lack of adequate health
care and educaon, a sharp drop in the purchasing power of the
people and a sharp growth in rural indebtedness. We need to ask
some basic quesons at this stage.
Is the mechanism of elecon an eecve instrument of the(1)
democrac will of the people?
Do the measures, which frucfy as outcomes of elecon, reect(2)
the aspiraons of those who are excluded from their due share
of welfare?
Gross corrupons in public life and criminalisaon of polics haveled
to distorons where the democrac credenals of the electoral
system is being quesoned seriously.
There is therefore a widespread and increasing disenchantment with
polics and policians in India. There is a growing public awareness
of the rampant entry of criminal elements into the polical arena.
For example, in the current Lok Sabha, nearly a quarter (23.2%)
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of the MPs have reported criminal cases against them. One out of
two among them (over 50%) has cases that could aract penales
of imprisonment of ve years or more. While token aempts at
reforming the electoral system have been made from me to me
over the last many years, to take care of some these distorons,
parcularly whenever it has suited the party in power, there has
hardly been any aempt at making any signicant and substanal
changes in the electoral system.
Electoral reform is a change in the electoral system such that genuine
public desires nd expression in elecon results. There have been anumber of reports and recommendaons on what needs to be done.
Some of the signicant examples are the Indrajit Gupta Report, the
Dinesh Goswami Report, the 170th Report of the Law Commission
of India on Review of the working of polical pares and Electoral
Reforms and the Recommendaons of the Naonal Commission to
Review the Working of the Constuon (NCRWC). The remarkable
fact however is that almost none of the recommendaons of these
learned and painstakingly prepared reports have been implemented.
The Naonal Commission to Review the Working of the Constuon
has come out with a Consultaon Paper especially in relaon to
elecons and reform opons.
2. ELECTORAL SYSTEM IN INDIA
First-past-the-post (abbreviated FPTP or FPP) vong refers to anelecon won by the candidate(s) with the most votes. The winningcandidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of allvotes cast.
Indian democracy has the First Past The Post (FPTP) as its electoral
system to provide representaon to voters in State Assemblies and
in the Parliament of India.
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FPTP system has played an important historical role in consolidang
democracy in the post independence India. With me however
many distorons have crept into the system which have undermined
the democrac aspiraons of the people. For example, the FPTP may
allow polical pares to come to power, both in the States and at the
Centre, with minority of votes. There are many instances where pares
with less than 30% of votes have won a large percentage of seats
and had claimed the right to form governments. The vast majority of
voters, in this system, are le unrepresented in governance.
The present electoral system in India encourages corrupon anduse of muscle power and communal pull to gain the slight margin
of winning votes. Pares that have the power to manipulate voters
using their economic power, are more oen than not successful in
gaining a dominant posion in the governance structure.
ELECTORAL SYSTEM IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
Proporonate Electoral System: Proporonate Electoral System is
being widely pracced in many democracies (such as in Italy and
Scotland) of the world. More and more countries are shiing to
Proporonal Representaon. In PR electoral system any party can
gain seats only in proporon to the percentage of votes that it gains.
There will not be any dierence between the percentage of votesand the percentage of seats. This allows pares with a majority voter
support to come to power.
Pure popular vote:The presidency of a naon goes to the candidate
with the largest plurality. This is the Presidenal system being
followed in US and other countries. The disadvantage is that it does
lile to solve the problems of a two party system. In the Indiancontext this system undermines the rights guaranteed to the states
that safeguard the unity of a diverse India.
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Popular vote with runo elecon:This is like the pure popular vote
opon, except that instead of holding primaries followed by a general
elecon, a free-for-all elecon is followed by a runo between the
two top vote-geers. This is pracsed, for example, in Egypt and
France.
Preferential popular vote:In this system, the voter gets a chance
to mark his or her choices against each candidate and if the voter s
first choice candidate loses, the vote is transferred to the second
choice and if he also loses , to the third choice and so on.. The
candidate who got the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated(his or her votes being transferred to the voters second choice
candidates). The least popular remaining candidate is thus
eliminated and so on until someone has a majority. This leads to
a very complex counting process. This system is commonplace in
Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, with several minor variations
in each locality.
Preferenal electoral vote: This is an aempt to introduce the
advantages of the preferenal method into the Electoral College. The
voters in each state cast preferenal ballots. A state awards its electoral
votes according to the rst choice vote count. If nobody got a majority of
the Electoral College, the votes of losing candidates would be transferred
to those voters secondary choices, and the electoral vote would be
recomputed. Electoral votes would have to be awarded proporonally
by each state, not by the winner-take-all. If winner-take-all is used, the
preferenal part of the system would quite likely to be inoperave. The
main disadvantage is that, this is similar to an inaccurate version of
weighted preferenal popular votes.
Popular approval vote: Approval vong consists of giving a yes
vote for every candidate that you put up, and a no vote for all
those you can not. Simply put, you can vote for as few or as many
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of the candidates as you wish. Its like preferenal vong system
except that it is without a hierarchy of individual ranking. The winner
is the candidate with the most total yes votes. It has the same
advantage as the preferenal system, and its simpler, imposing no
extra dicules with counng or requiring new vong machinery.
3. POLITICAL PARTIES IN INDIA
CHANGING FACE
The evoluon of the party system aer Independence presents
a study of transformaon from one-party dominant system to acomplex of mul-partyconguraon. The resulng polical system
presently reects trends of fragmentaon, faconalism, casteism,
communal polics and regionalism. Endemic within this system is
a tendency to form opportunisc alliances for seeking a share in the
pie of power, irrespecve of any strong ideological or programmac
commitments.
The last decade of the 20th century saw a sharp rise in polical
mobilizaon on the basis of social cleavages based on divisive
idenes, in parcular of religion and caste. Casteism, communalism
and personality dominaon have been the main planks around which
the fragmentaon of polical pares has taken place. Polical pares
have invariably exploited ensuing instability for gaining electoral
support and mobilisaon of the voters on issues which are not even
remotely of naonal concern. Structural and funconal problems
which ail most of the polical pares are:-
1. Absence of inner party democracy.
2. Abysmal representaon of women in the party leadership.
3. Lack of ideology and values in party polics.
4. Lack of training of party members to inculcate core party ideology
and partys strategy for social change.
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5. Lack of funds available for polical funconing.
6. Weak and neposc party leadership.
7. Increasing role of regionalism, casteism and communalism within
the pares.
8. Accommodaon of criminals within the Party and acceptance of
violence as a legimate funconal mode.
9. Fraconalizaon within the party and opportunisc coalions
with other polical pares.
10. Insensivity to issues of governance.
4. ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA ON
ELECTORAL REFORM
On 12thof June 2011, the 7thRegional Consultaon on Electoral Reforms
was organized jointly by the Union Ministry of Law and Jusce and the
Elecon Commission of India. The meeng was held in Guwaha.
The deliberaons centered around the issues listed below.
Various opons for vong systems, such as proporonal
representaon, a two-round system (runo vong, approval
vong, cizen iniaves and referendums) and recall elecons.
Instuonalizaon of Polical Pares - Need for a comprehensive
legislaon to regulate party acvies. Criteria for Registraon as
a Naonal or State Party - De-recognion of Pares.
Structural and organizaonal Reforms - Party organizaons
Naonal, State and local levels - Inner Party democracy - Regular
Party Elecons, recruitment of party cadres, socializaon,
development and training, research, thinking and policy planning
acvies of the party.
Problems of Party Funding -Need for a legislaon to regulate
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party funds - distribuon and spending of party funds during non-
elecon and elecon mes. Maintenance of Regular Accounts
by the Polical Pares-Auding and publishing making audited
accounts available for open inspecon.
Steps to check criminalisaon of polical pares. Debarring unl
cleared by the court, persons charge sheeted for oences of 5
years or more
Problem of proliferaon of independent candidates
Review of present voter and contestant eligibility and vote-
counng procedures
Nominaon procedures of candidates
Electoral constuencies
Ballot design and vong equipment
Monitoring of electoral process by candidates, polical pares,
etc.
Safety of voters and elecon workers
Measures against bribery, coercion, and conicts of interest
Financing of candidates and referendum campaigns
Factors which aect the rate of voter parcipaon (voter turnout)
THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA asked the Elecon Commission of India
to issue direcves to make it mandatory for the candidates subming
nominaons to give an adavit with details such as :-
Whether any criminal case is pending against them
Financial assets of the candidate, his/her spouse and dependents
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Educaonal qualicaons & nancial liabilies of the candidate
MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS ON ELECTORAL REFORMS IN INDIA BY
VARIOUS FORUMS
Abolish the rst-past-the-post system and make the requirement
of 50% of votes + 1 as mandatory to declare a winner.
Simultaneous elecons for Union and state legislatures and use
of common electoral rolls in the union and state elecons.
Fixed tenure of elected legislave bodies. A no-condence
moon should be followed by a condence moon.
Regulate the number of registered pares.
Do not allow candidates to contest from more than one
constuency in an elecon.
Do not allow negave/neutral vong.
Ban publicaon of exit/ opinion poll results ll vong in all the
phases is complete.
A candidate must le his income tax return for the previous two
years from the constuency which he/she wants to represent. All
candidates if elected (each year) and their close relaves must
publicly declare their total assets, before and aer the elecon.
Making false declaraons in elecon adavits is an oence.
No change of party or change of status of a candidate to an
independent member should be permied ll the announcement
of the next elecons.
The total elecon expenditure permissible by a candidate should be
related to the legimate elecon expenses and should be dened.
All candidates must be required to submit audited accounts,
with receipts, of poll expenditure. The EC (Elecon Commission)
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must have adequate auding manpower to have accounts
checked within 30 days aer the counng of ballot papers. Over
expenditure by 5% or more or discrepancies in the accounts
amounng to over 5% should be grounds for disqualicaon of
a candidate.
The security deposit should be equal to 10% of the expenditure
limit set by the EC and should be counted in the total poll
expenditure of the candidate.
Each candidate must be able to correctly speak, write and read in
the ocial language of the state (from where he/she is contesngthe elecon) or in Hindi.
There should be an upper age limit to contest an elecon.
The candidate must be found medically and mentally t, to
discharge the normal dues of a legislator, by a team of doctors
appointed by the EC. Only then he/she will be allowed to
contest.
The size of the Council of Ministers must be limited to 10% of the
legislators in larger houses (over 120 members) and to 15% in
smaller ones (less than 100). A minimum of 12 ministers may be
permied for even the smallest house.
The donaon by an individual or company to a candidate must
not exceed 5% of the total expenditure permissible. The total
donaon made by an individual or a company to all candidates
in an elecon must not exceed 50% of the total permissible
expenditure by one candidate. All donaons given and received
must be in public knowledge.
The electronic vong machines must be made tamper proof and
hacking proof.
Voter Veriable Paper Trail (VVPT), a supplement to the exisng
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in order to inuence voters. PR system has mul-member
constuencies. This enables two or more members geng elected
from the same constuency in order to provide representaon to
dierent pares.
In PR electoral system inner party democracy is a must.
Polical pares prepare a list of candidates before the elecons
selected through inner party elecons and submit the same to
the Elecon Commission. Candidates of pares are declared
elected from this list in the same proporon as the percentage of
votes that party or a coalion obtains.
The list thus prepared by the polical pares, constuency of the
nominated candidate is also indicated. This enables voters from that
constuency to vote for the party to which their popular candidate
belongs. If a party elds many popular candidates their percentage of
votes increases in many constuencies. Thus the popularity of party
ideology and the popularity of candidates are both reected in thePR system.
Many countries where PR system is followed, elecon expenses
are sponsored by the State. This prevents corrupon, money and
muscle power, malpracces, play of emoons on communal and
caste basis etc.
Proporonate Electoral System provides ample space for formaon
of coalions represenng smaller communies that do not have the
chance of being represented in FPTP. Smaller pares represenng
unrepresented communies can make a coalion and gain required
percentage of votes in order to come to a winning posion of
power. This is very important for the survival of democrac
governance in India in favour of the poor and also minimizaon of
corrupon and electoral violence and enhancement of inner party
democracy.
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AIPF Recommendaons for a ReformedElectoral System in India
Who will be in the Parliament/ Assembly?
There will be 2 x 542 = 1084 members of parliament and all state1.
legislatures will have double their present membership. (Presently
the strength of Loksabha is 542)
50% of the members shall compulsorily be women.2.
542 members will be elected through nominaon by polical pares,3.
based on proporonal representaon (PR), for parliament.
The other MP/ MLA in each constuency will be elected by FPTP, on4.
condion that he/ she should secure 50% + 1 vote to get elected.
If in one elecon one male MP is elected by PR, the other MP in the5.
same constuency shall be a woman elected by FPTP. For the nextelecon, the gender representaon shall be reversed.
The current norms for reservaon of seats for SC/ST candidates6.
should connue.
If an elected representave resigns his/ her seat, he/ she will be7.
disqualied for the term of the house and cannot contest that or
any other constuency during this period. A new candidate will
have to contest in his/ her place.
No individual can contest more than one seat.8.
Wherever state legislave councils are in place, Graduate Constuencies9.
should be abolished and in their place, Workers Constuencies should
be constuted. Any worker/ employee of any enterprise with ESI card
or a valid company ID can register as a voter.
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Who is eligible to contest elecon?
Pares have to choose their candidates by primaries following1.
democrac selecon process from within the party. The names of
two alternave candidates are to be publicly declared and published
on the Internet. If any objecons are raised to the candidatures, the
objecons should be publicaly declared and automacally recorded
in a webpage put up by the Elecon Commission.
Pares have to nominate their candidates at least 6 months before2.
the elecon and give sucient me for the Elecon Commission
to verify the credenals of the candidate, his/ her criminal record,
property details etc. If the candidates nominaon is invalid, there
will be an alternave name and a second alternave name for
candidature. If all three are rejected, the Party can not contest the
seat.
While educaonal qualicaon is not a necessary criterion, the3.
candidate should be able to read and write in his/her nave language
when he/she contests the state legislature elecons and should be
conversant in Hindi/ English for parliament elecons.
Similarly, advanced age cannot be a bar to nominaon, but the4.
candidate should be mentally and physically sound to contest an
elecon and discharge his/ her dues as a law maker.
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Elecon Expenses
The amount of money deposited by a candidate will be a1.
minimum of 10% of the allowed elecon expenses and shall
be included in the total expenditure of the candidate. If acandidate loses deposit in two consecuve elecons, his/her
deposit amount for the third elecon will be 50% of the allowed
elecon expenditure. If he/ she chooses to contest a fourth
me, aer losing deposit three mes, the deposit amount will
be 100% of the allowed elecon expenses. If they lose the forth
me he/ she will be debarred from contesng any seat. This is
for discouraging non-serious candidates.
Travel expenses of central party leaders will be included in the2.
candidates elecon expenditure. The total allowed expenses
of the central party leaders per seat contested by the Party, will
be xed by the EC. This expenditure includes money spent on
media adversing, sponsored programs, free travel/ boarding
arranged by private persons/ corporate sector, etc.
There should be State funding of elecons. This is jused3.
constuonally and legally. Such funding should be conned to
pares recognised as naonal or state pares by the Elecon
Commission. To begin with, only a part of the nancial burden
of polical pares may be charged to the state. A greater
burden could be progressively shied to the state in future
so that ulmately all the legimate electoral expenses will be
charged to the state. The
state funding should be
in kind and not in cash. A
separate state fund should
be created for meeng the
electoral expenses.
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Elecon Ethics
Polical pares should adhere to strict norms laid out by the Elecon1.
Commission. Pares and the candidates should be barred from making
provocave speeches incing violence of a communal / casteist/
regional hatred nature., and/or distribung liquor, money etc to the
electorate. If a candidate or a leader of a polical party violates this,
not only the candidate, but all the candidates put up by the Party will be
disqualied from contesng the elecon for two consecuve elecons.
The Party will also be disqualied from parcipang in two consecuve
elecons. Video evidence or reports in themedia are adequate grounds to iniate acon
against a candidate or a Party.
Criminal and an-social elements will be2.
idened and any Polical Party or its
candidate employing these elements for
campaigning will also be barred from twoconsecuve elecons.
Polical Pares
There should be a law requiring all recognized polical pares1.
to keep audited accounts and sources of all income and detailsof expenditure. False accounts should be made a punishable
oense.
All polical pares have to submit a list of its members to the2.
State/ Regional Elecon Commission every year. No polical party
can nominate a candidate who has not been a party member for
the last two years, before his/ her nominaon.
Polical Pares which intend to enter into elecon alliances should3.
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announce their intenons to contest together six months prior to
the elecon. An-defecon law should be applicable to elecon
alliances also. If pares decide to break their alliance, then all the
candidates belonging to the alliance will have to forfeit their seats
also.
Support to be rendered to any government from outside, i.e.4.
without joining the coalion government, should be legally barred.
Only a party having at least 25 percentage of seats in the Lower
House of parliament or Assembly should be entled to form the
government.
Elected Members - Code of Conduct
1. Yardscks used for prosecung government servants facing criminal
proceedings and placed under suspension unl cleared by the
courts, should be applied to the policians as well.
2. There should be strict norms for the funconing of the legislave
bodies. Any member who indulges in the use of the oce for
personal business promoon during the term of his oce should
forego his/her seat.
Members who are present for less then 80% of the me of house3.
business in a year will automacally cease to be members. This
should also include those who suer from chronic illness.
Any member of a legislave body will face charges of sedion and4.
will be tried for treason and an-naonal acvies, if he/she makes
provocave speeches or makes such statements that incite violence
as well as regional, communal and casteist senments. Video
evidence or reports in the media are adequate grounds to iniate
acon and to frame charges against such a member.
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AIPF suggests that every elected representave5.
should seek the condence of the voters in his/
her constuency once a year. The condence
vote will be recorded electronically. Though
this may cause a heavy burden on the state,
this will ensure that the elected representaves
enjoy the condence of the voters throughout
their term of oce. In case, an elected member
loses the condence (gets less than 50%+1 of the valid votes) there will
be re-elecon in that constuency. There will be no campaigning for
the condence vote.
6. For the large parliamentary membership that we recommend there
will be only two weekly sessions of the house for each sing. For
the rest of the period, the members have to be nominated by
their respecve polical pares to various panels that will transact
business. For example, there can be a panel on internal security, one
on nance, another on commerce, one on foreign aairs etc. This
will enable the house to devote more me to all issues and ensure
that all members parcipate in the debates and make their voices
heard. The joint session will review the proceedings of each panel.
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APPENDIX
A number of academic and research instuons, polical observers
and analysts, commiees and commissions appointed by the
Government of India from me to me and concerned scholars,journalists and academicians in their individual capacies have
made a number of proposals for reforms in the party system in
India. Some of the most signicant of these are culled here in order
to provide a perspecve for framing recommendaons for elecon
reforms.
President K R Narayanan (1999)
Polical pares should ensure that criminals are denied ckets for
elecons. Entry of criminals can be prevented without passing any
law. An-Defecon Law, under which one-third members of the total
strength of a party are allowed to split it, is not working well. If anybody
wants to change his party aer being elected on that partys cket,
he should resign from the Parliament or the Legislature and face the
electorate. If there is such a rule very few defecons will take place.
Center for Policy Research Study (Lok Raj Baral) on Party Reforms (2000)/ (A1)
1. Reforming the rst-past-the-post system of elecon- The German
model that accepts a preferenal vong system can be examined for
ensuring proporonate representaon of pares in parliament.
2. Since all pares work in tandem with unscrupulous business
lobbies and gangsters or use state power for determining theoutcome of elecons, these cancerous trends need to be checked
for good governance.
3. Polical pares should have minimum principles for forming a
coalion government rather than forge alliances only to be in
government. Unprincipled polical alignment should be discouraged
by law urging polical pares to be more homogenous in their joint
endeavors of running the coalion government.
4. Support to be rendered to any government from outside, i.e.
without joining the coalion government, should be legally
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barred. Only a party having at least 25 per cent seats in the Lower
House of parliament or Assembly should have a chance to form
the government.
5. No government should be removed from oce if the opposion
pares or others involved in the toppling game fail to come out
with a clear alternave arrangement and programme.
6. The kind of coalional arrangements that the pares make should
be clear before forming the government. Developments so far
show that the big pares themselves prefer to play second ddle
to the regional and smaller pares whose immediate interests
are determined by regional and parochial issues rather thanlong term naonal programmes.
7. Pares need to strengthen their managerial and crisis
management capacity. If the party organizaons are beer
managed and democrazed, their eciency would increase. More
autonomy to all layers and more inner-party democracy would
help circulate leaders on the basis of their qualies. The criterion
of achievement rather than ascripon should be accepted by
all pares. Unless pares are broad based in accommodang
all segments of society, they connue to become statusquoits,
exclusivist, regional and sectarian.
8. Pares own code of conduct and self-iniated reforms, rather than
state-imposed reforms are likely to improve the working of pares.
V. M. Tarakunde Commiee (1974-75)
An important recommendaon of this commiee was that
there should be a law requiring all recognized polical pares to
keep audited accounts and sources of all income and details of
expenditure, with false accounts being a punishable oence.
Dinesh Goswami Commiee Report (1990)
The main recommendaons of the Commiee were as follows:
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1. A three-member elecon commission and appointment of the
Chief Elecon commissioner in consultaon with the Chief Jusce
of India and the leader of the opposion and the appointment
of other Elecon commissioners in consultaon with CEC;
2. A fresh de-limitaon of the constuencies on the basis of 1981
census and rotaon of seats reserved for SCs and STs;
3. Issuing of mul-purpose photo identy cards to voters;
4. Disallowance of contesng by candidates from more than two
constuencies;
5. The raising of security deposits of independent candidates andforfeiture of security deposits of all candidates failing to secure
at least th of the votes polled;
6. Statutory status to the model code of conduct formulated by
the Elecon Commission;
7. Introducon of electronic vong machine;
8. Legislave measures against booth-capturing, rigging andinmidaon of voters;
9. Limited state-funding in kind to recognized polical pares, to
begin with;
10. Transportaon of voters, carrying of re arms, sale and
distribuon of liquor on poll day to be cognizable electoral
oence in law;
11. Restricon of disqualicaon under the an-defecon law to
voluntary resignaon and violaon of party whips only in cases
of vote of condence, money bills and vote of thanks to the
President;
12. A review of the electoral system by a standing Commiee of the
Parliament and by an expert Commiee.
13. Chapter 5 of the Goswami Commiee Report also made some
recommendaons relang to polical pares and candidates.
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The main reform proposed was the deleon of Secon 29(A)
of the RP Act concerning registraon of pares. The maer,
instead should be delegated to be solely decided by the Elecon
Commission under the Elecon Symbols (Reservaon and
Allotment, 1968). The Commiee did not feel the necessity of
recognizing electoral alliances of polical pares or changing
present procedure of allotment of symbols.
Jusce V. R. Krishna Iyer Commiee (1994)
The Krishna Iyer Commiee recommended that a law should ensure
inner-party democracy in all polical pares. It also reiterated a
legal sancon for proper audit and accounts. Besides it proposedthe instuon of a Commissioner to examine and decide whether
a polical party was promong communalism or in any way acng
against the Constuon.
Indrajit Gupta (1998)
It was in June 1998 that the Indrajit Gupta Commiee was set up to go
into the central issue of elecon funding. Preceded by an all-India partymeet a month earlier in May 1998, the Commiee nalised its report on
December 30, 1998. The commiee headed by the late CPI stalwart stressed
that the state funding of elecons was fully jused - constuonally
and legally. It observed that such funding should be conned to pares
recognised as naonal or state pares by the Elecon Commission. To
begin with only a part of the nancial burden of polical pares may be
shied to the state. A greater burden could be progressively shied to thestates so that ulmately all their legimate expenses become a charge on
the state. The commiee suggested that state funding be in kind not cash.
It desired the creaon of a separate elecon fund for meeng the expenses
on state funding of elecons. The commiee noted that polical pares
must submit their annual accounts regularly to the income tax authories
showing details of receipts and expenditure. Polical pares should also
le a complete account of their elecon expenditure, both on general partypropaganda and on individual candidates.
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Law Commissions Report (1998)
The recommendaons of the Law Commission can be summed up
as follows:
Independent candidates be barred from contesng elecons1.to the Lok Sabha and legislave assemblies.
Full ve year term for the legislatures.2.
In order to contain defecons, a pre-poll coalion or front3.
of polical pares should be treated as a polical party.
Inclusion in the RPA to regulate the formaon, funconing4.
and income-expenditure accounts of polical pares and toavoid their splintering and ensure internal democracy.
Scrapping of explanaon I to secon 77(1) of the RPA to make5.
the electoral system more representave, fair and transparent
- making it obligatory for every candidate to declare his/her
assets and of his/ her spouse and dependent relaons as
well as provide parculars regarding criminal cases pending
against them.
On state funding of polical pares, recommendaons of6.
the Indrajit Gupta Commiee subject to certain changes, be
adopted.
In case of electoral oences and certain other serious7.
oences, framing of a charge by the court should itself be a
ground for disqualicaon in addion to convicon. Relevant
provisions of the Criminal Procedure be amended to check
false complaints.
Only a candidate obtaining 50 percent or more votes be8.
declared elected, holding of run o elecons wherever
necessary.
Any party, which receives less than ve percent of the total9.vote in elecons to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies shall not
be entled to any seat.
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Use of electronic vong machine in all the elecons.10.
Restricon on frequency of no-condence moons11.
List system on the German model for 25% or 50% addional12.
seats and concept of negave vote.
Jusce Kuldeep Singh Panel (2002)
1. To prevent criminalisaon of polics, the candidates with a
criminal background or those facing substanal criminal charges
framed by a court be debarred from contesng elecons.
2. Just as government servants facing criminal proceedings are
placed under suspension unl cleared by the courts, the sameyardsck should be applied to policians as well.
3. Elecon Commission should bring eecve changes in the model
code of conduct to exclude candidates from contesng elecons
who have criminal proceedings pending against them. And, if
the Elecon Commission cannot do this, Parliament must do it.
4. More eecve laws be created that will prevent criminals from enteringthe polical process. The legal reforms can push criminals out of the
system. New legal iniaves such as amendments in Secon 8 of the
Representaon of the People Act 1951 could empower the Elecon
Commission to deal with crime-tainted policians.
5. If we cannot bar criminals from contesng elecons unl they are
convicted by the courts, then the next best course would be to
get speedy verdicts in their cases. Special courts and benches to
try cases against legislators and other high prole people should
be set up for speedy trials.
Suggesons by Academics/ Scholars/ Journalists etc.:
Indian pares should seriously consider adopng the leadership1.
convenon system. It would make the leadership selecon process
more democrac and federal. Second, the naon would introduce
a naonally aggregave mechanism in major pares and curb the
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tendency of regionalisaon and fragmentaon. This will go a long
way in making pares aggregave and thus more funconal in a
parliamentary federal system of governance (A2).
The Joint Commiee of Parliament on Amendments to2.
Electoral Laws (1971-72) considered and rejected the proposal
for changing the First past- the- post (FPTP) system, but
recommended the formaon of an expert commiee to review
it. S. L. Shakdher, the then Elecon Commissioner and L. P. Singh
supported the view, besides the Goswami Commiee. Nobody
has argued for a pure PR (proporonal representaon) system
but a mix of PR and plurality system. The Tarakunde Commiee
recommended two alternave formulae for consideraon. The
rst was the German formula (double vote, half of the seats by
direct plurality system, top-up on the basis of the second vote,
provision for addional members) modied, if necessary, to
change the mix of direct and list seats from : to 2/3 : 1/3.
The second involved single vote polling as in the present system,
all candidates who secure a majority of votes to be declaredelected directly, the rest of the seats to be lled from party
lists according to the proporon of votes for each party (top-up
procedure) with some relaxaon for independents.
For curbing the incidence of polical violence and terrorism there3.
should be express provision for de-recognion of polical pares, if
there is violaon of Sub-Secon (5) of Secon 29 A of R. P. Act 1951.9
relang to upholding of the allegiance to the Constuon of India
and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy and the
sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. It is to be noted that a recent
dra Bill on Electoral Reform provides for de-registraon of polical
pares. However, there is a provision for appeal in Courts/ (A3)
S4. ome qualicaons can be laid down; impeccable integrity, proven
ability, academic standards in consonance with the requirementsof the job, otherwise leaders can be a liability. And surely, rule of
the majority does not mean rule by the illiterate/ (A4)
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It should be made mandatory for all polical pares to nominate5.
women in at least a third of the seats contested by them.
6. There is need for a law to make it compulsory for every
recognized polical party to annually declare and publish, along
with its constuon and list of duly elected oce bearers, the
list of its primary members and the subscripons collected from
them, among all other sources. (Chief Elecon Commisioner
M.S. Gill).
Proposed Electoral reforms by Anna Hazare and his followers
People should have the right to reject,People should be allowed
to use the opon not to vote if they dont like any candidate. Other
suggesons include:-
Holding Primaries: In the current system the party bosses have
the ulmate say in terms of their candidates. The best way is to
introduce primaries or preliminary elecons for all recognized
pares. These preliminary elecon would then determine who thecandidate of a parcular party will be. Laws can be made to decide
who can vote in these primaries. Aer the primary elecons the top
voted candidate from each party goes on to the main elecon.
Removal of the an-defecon law: The an-defecon law was
passed in 1985 as the 52nd amendment to the Indian constuon.
Allowing the MPs to vote their conscience would mean government
moons may fail resulng in the government being forced to resign
under the collecve responsibility principle. This is not desirable. So
addional changes would be necessary to avoid this. In the absence
of an-defecon laws, a cultural shi could be eected wherein
legislators across party lines can think independently and come
together to propose bi-parsan Bills in a manner similar to what we
see in the United States.
Provide mechanisms to recall an elected representave: If an elected
representave is out-of-synch with the voters of his/her constuency
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there should be a mechanism to recall that representave and have
a new elecon. That way elected representaves cant forget their
voters between elecons and only show up around the elecon
me. (Team Anna has menoned this as one of their goals.)
Government funding of elecon: Corrupon by the elected
representaves is abeed also because they have to nd funds for
their elecon expenses.
Direct elecon of CM and PM but with term limits of maximum
of two terms: CMs and PMs should have a term limit of maximum
of two terms. This will allow for young leadership to emerge more
easily. By virtue of being the leader of the House the person electedto the all-State or all-India constuency will have to be invited by
the Governor or the President to form the next Government as the
Chief Minister or Prime Minister. Irrespecve of whether a party
or a combinaon of pares has a legislave majority the Chief
Minister or Prime Minister will have a xed term which will be the
same as the term of the legislature. Removal of the Chief Minister
or Prime Minister would thus require a higher legislave bar similarto a Presidenal impeachment. The an-defecon law will become
redundant and irrelevant since the Government no longer depends
on a simple majority in the legislature. The Chief Minister or Prime
Minister could then also have the addional freedom to appoint
members to his Cabinet from outside the legislature thus eliminang
another source of instability and dissidence.
Instead of Right to Reject allow Write-in candidates: The idea
behind right to reject is that during vong there should be a opon
of No One. However, a beer idea is to have a write-in opon where
people can write the name of the person (who is not in the ballot) who
they want to vote for. So people can write No one if they desire to do
so. Or they can write someones name.
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References
A1. Lok Raj Baral, Polical Pares and Governance in South Asia in V.
A. Pai Panandikar, Problems of Governance in South Asia, Delhi,
(Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd.), 2000, pp. 155-199.
A2. M. P. Singh, Towards Greater Federalism, The Pioneer, 16 December
1997.
A3. Raisa Ali, Representave Democracy and Concept of Free and Fair
Elecons, New Delhi, (Deep & Deep), 1996
A4. Jawaharlal Gupta, while the worst are full of passion, Hindustan
Times, 28 June 2000.
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