ELECTORAL REFORMS

ELECTORAL REFORMS
Following are some of the electoral reforms that are needed or proposed in India:


1. RESTRICTION ON NUMBER OF SEATS FROM WHICH ONE MAY CONTEST
As per the law, a person can contest a general election or a group of bye-elections or biennial elections from a maximum of 2 constituencies. There have been several cases where a person contests election from 2 constituencies, and wins from both. In such a situation he vacates the seat in one of the 2 constituencies. The consequence is that a bye-election would be required from one constituency involving avoidable labour and expenditure.
The law should be amended to provide that a person cannot contest from more than 1 constituency at a time.


1. NEED TO INCREASE THE SECURITY DEPOSIT OF CANDIDATES

The RP act, 1951 requires each candidate for election to the house of the people to deposit on amount of Rs. 10,000 as security deposit. For state assembly elections and elections to council of states and legislative councils, the security deposit is Rs. 5000 .
The amount of security deposit was last revised in 1998, raising the earlier amount of Rs. 500 for lok sabha and Rs. 250 for assembly elections to the current levels. The revision was made primarily to discourage non serious candidates from jumping into electoral arena. There were instances in the past where 100s of candidates filed nominations from some constituencies with the intention of upsetting the electoral process there.
At the recently held general election to the house of the people and legislative assemblies, the no. of contesting candidates showed an increasing trend again. Too many candidates in the election fray puts unnecessary and avoidable stress on the management of elections and increases the expenditure on account of security, maintenance of law and order and requires extra no. of balloting units of voting machines etc.
It is also suggested that the election commission be suitably empowered to prescribe the security deposit before every general elections.


1. AFFIDAVITS TO BE FILED BY CANDIDATES ON CIMINAL ANTECEDENTS, ASSETS ETC.
In terms of the representations of the people act, each candidate contesting an election has to file an affidavit giving the following information:

1. Cases, if any, in which the candidate has been accused of any offence punishable with imprisonment for two or more years in a pending case in which charges have been framed by the court.

2. Cases of conviction for an offence other than any of the offences as mentioned in section 8 of the RP act, 1951 and sentenced to imprisonment of 1 year or more.

In addition to the above affidavit, a candidate has to file another affidavit giving information relating to all pending cases in which cognizance has been taken by a court, his assets and liabilities and educational qualifications.
Recommendation- There should be only 1 affidavit containing all vital information. Such a measure will certainly reduce the confusion that prevails about the 2 separate sets of affidavits now required to be filed.


1. CRIMINALISATION OF POLITICS

Already done by supreme court:

1. Deletion of section 8(4) of the RP act, 1951 which allowed convicted legislatures to escape disqualification by filing an appeal in the higher court. Supreme court said that as soon as a person is convicted by any court in which the sentence of punishment is more than 2 years, the person will be immediately disqualified.

2. A person expecting to contest an election is also barred from contesting if he sentenced to a minimum of 2 years of imprisonment.

3. The law should also be amended to provide that any person who is accused of an offence punishable by imprisonment for 5 years or more should be disqualified from contesting election even when trial is pending, provided that charges have been framed against him by a competent court.


1. SOME RECENT DECISIONS BY SUPREME COURT


1. Allahabad high court banned caste rallies by political parties.

2. None of the above option in the electronic voting machines. (Article 49 (O) of the representation of the people act)

3. With NOTA option in the electronic voting machines, a law on compulsory voting should also be brought about. Many countries such as Australia, Brazil, Argentina and Singapore (total 22 countries) already have compulsory voting in their laws.

4. Supreme court also directed the election commission to frame guidelines regarding promises of freebies in the election manifestos and in calling for a separate legislation in this regard. (since announcement of freebies in the election manifestos do not come under corrupt practices and electoral offences in the RP act, 1951)


1. COMPULSORY MAINTENANCE OF ACCOUNTS BY POLITICAL PARTIES AND AUDIT THEREOF BY AGENCIES SPECIFIED BY THE ELECTION COMMISION.


1. BRING ALL POLITICAL PARTIES WITHIN THE PURVIEW OF RIGHT TO INFORMATION (SPECIALLY REGARDING THEIR FUNDS AND DOING AWAY WITH THE CLAUSE THAT REQUIRES DONATIONS OF ONLY ABOVE 20,000 TO BE DISCLOSED BY THE POLITICAL PARTIES)


1. GOVERNMENT SPONSORED ADVERTISEMENTS

It has been seen that on the eve of election, the central and various state governments embark on advertisements spree in the guise of providing information to the public. The expenditure on such advertisements is obviously incurred from the public exchequer. It is common knowledge that the advertisements are released with an eye on the election to influence the electors. Apart from the fact that public money is spent for partisan interests of the party in power, this practice is also contrary to the spirit of free and fair elections as the party in power gets undue advantage over other parties and candidates.
Recommendation- Where any general election is due on the expiration of the term of the house, advertisements of achievements of the governments, in any manner, should be prohibited for a period of 6 months prior to the date of expiry of the term of the house. (Since, model code of conduct comes only into operation only from the date of announcement of an election by EC, the advertisements released prior to announcement of elections, as is generally practiced, cannot be prohibited under model code of conduct).


1. EXPENSES OF ELECTION COMMISSION TO BE TREATED AS CHARGED

Similar provisions already exists in respect of the supreme court, CAG,
UPSC, and some other constitutional bodies. To secure its independent functioning, the expenses of EC should also be treated as charged upon the consolidated fund of India.


1. USE OF COMMON ELECTORAL ROLLS AT ELECTIONS CONDUCTED BY THE ELECTION COMMISSION AND STATE ELECTION COMMISSION

Elections to parliament and state legislative assemblies- conducted by election commission of india
Elections to local bodies- conducted by state election commissions.
The preparation and revision of electoral rolls for parliamentary and assembly constituencies are governed by provisions of RP act, 1950; whereas the same for local bodies are regulated by the state laws of the state concerned.
Most of the states provide that the electoral rolls prepared by the EC should be the basis of preparation of rolls for local body elections. Whereas, in some states, it is further provided that the parliamentary and assembly rolls will be adopted as such for local body elections, in other states parliamentary and assembly rolls are to be adopted only as draft rolls for local body elections and they are subjected to further modifications by way of inclusions and deletions. This not only creates confusion among the electors because their names may be present in one roll and absent in the other, but also in duplication of effort and expenditure.
In almost all the cases, the same machinery of the field level is entrusted the job of preparing and revising rolls for both type of elections. It will be a huge national saving, if there are common rolls for all elections and the parliamentary and assembly rolls are used for local body elections also, by being adopted and rearranged by the method of cut and paste according to wards or polling areas of the local bodies.


1. MAKING OF FALSE DECLARATION IN CONNECTION WITH ELECTIONS TO BE AN OFFENCE.



JUDICIAL REFORMS
INDIA has about 11 judicial officers per million population as compared to

Autralias 42UKs 51
Canadas 75USAs 107
To deal with current volume of litigation and eliminate arrears, India needs to appoint 5 times the present strength of judges.
Justice is time consuming and expensive in India. There is a large pendency of cases
No. of pending cases in subordinate courts = over 3.1 crore
No. of pending cases in supreme court = over 66,000


1. Curtailing of vacancies in the higher judiciary.

2. Modification of laws and their simplification.

3. Controlling the adjournment of cases and placing limits on them.

4. Clubbing of similar cases and disposing them off.

5. Using electronic devices for filing of cases through the internet

6. Increasing no. of hours of work for the lower courts.

7. Creation of village courts and multiplying fast track courts.

8. Using the services of retired judges for manning special type of courts. Besides, ad hoc judges could be appointed for five to six years till the pendency is cleared.

9. Malimath committees recommendation for tackling cases that are more than 2 years old.

10. Creating better ambience in the premises of judicial courts with more adequate space and facilities for libraries and electronic referencing. Infrastructural facilities to be given high priority.

11. Specifying time limits for oral arguments and taking decisions.

12. A NATIONAL JUDICIAL DATA GRID is being setup to enable real time monitoring of the progress of cases, so that remedial action can be taken to ensure speedy dispensation of justice.

13. 120th constitutional amendment bill (judicial appointments commission) to be passed. It will make the selection process of judges more transparent. The commission will be presided over by the CJI, and will include 2 more supreme court judges. Other members will be the law minister, 2 eminent persons and the justice-secretary who will be the member-secretary. The eminent persons will be nominated by a committee of leader of opposition in either house, the PM, and the CJI.


POLICE REFORMS

1. Early implementation of CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems) electronic filing of FIRs and much more (already explained by mrunal- http://mrunal.org/2013/01/polity-crime-and-criminal-tracking-network-systems-cctns-features-benefits.html)

2. Implementation of Supreme court directives regarding police reforms-

1. Setting up of a state security commission with a view to insulate police from extraneous pressures.

2. A police establishment board to give autonomy to the police hierarchy in transfers and postings

3. A police complaint authority at national, state, and district level to look into complaints of serious misconduct of policemen.

4. The court also prescribed a procedure to ensure transparency in the selection of DGP and give him a minimum tenure of 2 years.

5. Officers performing operational duties were also to be given security of tenure.

6. The court further ordered that investigation and law &order functions of police should be separated to improve the quality of investigations.

The Thomas committee which was setup to monitor the implementation of the courts directions expressed its dismay over the total indifference to the issue of reforms in the functioning of police.

1. Other reforms include:

1. Substantial augmentation in the strength of police forces.

2. Filling up of nearly 4.2 lakh vacancies in police deptt.

3. Improved infrastructure at the police stations in terms of vehicles, communication equipments and forensic support

4. Working hours of policemen needs to be prescribed

5. Sensitization of police department on sensitive issues

6. Periodic training of the police personals at all levels especially, at the lower levels who directly communicate with the people/citizens.

THE FUTURE OF INDIA, it may be said without exaggeration, is linked with the fate of electoral, judicial and police reforms in the country.

REFERENCES:

1. INDIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION BY ARORA AND GOYAL

2. VARIOUS MONTHLY JOURNALS SUCH AS FRONTLINE

3. THE HINDU NEWSPAPER AND TIMES OF INDIA

4. LOTS OF WEBSITES WHICH I MYSELF DONT REMEMBER

5. A COMPILATION OF PROPOSALS OF ELECTORAL REFORMS SENT BY THE ELECTION COMMISSION TO THE LAW MINISTER OF INDIA FROM TIME TO TIME- PROVIDED TO ME BY MY BROTHER.

Will provide economic reforms, reforms in centrally sponsored schemes (such as IRDP, ICDS, MGNREGA etc), parliamentary reforms ETC. ETC. next month.
I did not participated in the previous months competition because I was busy preparing for my mains exams (which did not go well, because I fell ill during the exams )
Name- Deep