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Article by Saikat Banerjee
The term ‘Electoral Reform’ refers to the change in the systems of election process in order to improve on the desirability of the public in the election results. One of the prime factors in electoral reforms is the change in the process and procedure of voting System.
Electoral reforms are a must in India and to introduce these reforms, the younger generation and the middle-class need to be more sensitized hence making them more aware.
To make the younger generation more aware about the electoral reforms it is necessary that the universities in the country produces more people who knows the art of playing with democracy.
The role of the politician in this regard would be that, they would never allow these reforms.
There are 542 members in parliament since the 12th Lok Sabha elections, whereas during this period the population of the country has increased manifold and to add to that the voting age has been brought down to18 years.
To look at it in another way we will find that one Member of Parliament (MP) represents 1.2 million people which is something very unfortunate and needs to be changed immediately.
If we look into the issue of delimitation of constituencies in the country we will find that the boundaries have changed but the number of constituencies has remained the same. In this case the delimitation should have been in the number of voters and not the geographical boundaries.
Talking about the Indian Constitution it can be said that the Constitution has maintained its dignity of democracy for the last 62 years even when a developed country like United States failed.
Although the Indian constitution has had a success story for the last 62 years yet it is reaching the crossroads.
There are many reasons for it and one of them being the great disparity existing in Indian democracy where 61 Indians with billions of dollars regulate the one-third of GDP growth of the country whereas 80 per cent of the population earn only Rs 20 daily.
In order to effectively implement the electoral reforms and make it functional there are certain changes that have to be implemented by the Election Commission.
The first thing is the amount of money and muscle power that is involved in elections has to be very closely monitored and stern steps should be taken against people involving in the malicious use of money and muscle power.
Secondly the people of a constituency should be accorded the power to recall. In order to avoid illegal use of money in promoting one’s candidature and party for election, annual audit of the representatives from various parties should be regularly conducted.
There should be a close monitoring on people’s participation. In this age of technological advancement effective use and role of technology is very important.
If the process of voting instead of visiting the polling station with the help of technology can be made through the internet where one can visit the website and cast one’s vote then the voting percentage might be on higher side unlike the contemporary poor percentage of voters turning out to cast one’s vote. Besides this, the political parties should also function democratically with periodic elections, well defined code of conduct and subject to a stubborn anti defection law.
The beginning of electoral reforms should be first of all implemented at the student’s union level because it is the nursery of political parties where various students’ unions follow various political parties and is also supported by the political parties in various ways.
Like strong roots is the major reason behind a huge tree standing tall and facing all the natural atrocities, in that same way electoral reforms should be implemented first from the roots i.e. the student’s union.
Saikat Banerjee is an Assistant Professor at Department of English, Jaipur National University. Saikat can be reached through saikattublu2008@gmail.com
I think without electoral reforms we would always keep complaining about every bureaucratic decision which changes our life. If the voter is empowered then political and social discrepancies can be efficiently handled. A voter’s decision will compel the political leaders to think for the people.
good one….
Very thoughtful, incisive and sharp analysis by the scholarly Saikat Banerjee. Must read for every liberal believing in democracy, election reforms and required changes in the system.
Generally people discuss about the electoral reforms ,but only discussion is not fruitful ,we should invent some innovative methods ..I congratulate Udaipur Times and Saikat Banerjee , who proved to be an active citizen of India by constructing a path for electoral reforms through his article .
its a gud step to aware people about the electoral reforms…….mostly the younger’s…… !!!!!!
nicely written and well informative. Cudos to the writer.
Electoral reforms is really must for
india.
About gdp saiket. Sir… U explain are
very well & about election system in
our india…….overall sir aapka ways of
thinking is awsome….and writting
also…i think it is good sir to aware every people about the electoral reforms !!! That’s it sir……..
good job,this article can be very useful to the younger generations like us….
Its really a great idea that one can give his/her “GOLDEN” vote while sitting at his home just by opening blahblah.com.
but if they are using money power so such then it is very easy to hire an hacker who is good with his skills and can hack it so then who knows who will win in results …… the irony is that even the people will don`t know that who is going to win . It looks like they will get an dilwali gift as a minister who is gona play “LUDO” with their future..
as i think that your idea also contain good an important points which must be taken . like
1. Having eye on different members who is using his/her muscle and money power to destroy our future.
2. Power to recall.
3. The googling vote is good one and even can proved to be best way for future voting method as this can help us to involve each and every googler to contribute their “GOLDEN VOTE” . Only thing is that we need another best team who put their eye second to second on website VENERABILITY .
The factsheet of present Loksabha presents an alarming picture. More than 150 MP’s have criminal records, many of them facing charges of murder and rape. The question is: How can India have faith on democracy when its leaders are flooded with the criminal charges.
Its high time that we go on the path of electoral reforms. Much ink has been spilled over ideas like allowing negative voting, right to reject, accountability, banning surrogate ads etc . much nothing has happened on ground.
Electoral reforms are the need of the hour if we want to keep the elements of money and muscle out. The author rightly says that the solution is in bringing more and more youth into the democratic process.
in this article , the reality of indian democracy is shown by letting know how much politics has been lamed down…….
This article is just impeccably awesome.
Our country desperately needs a change in the electoral process.
Politicians has been stinking in our country for a long time now.
Time has come to dispose off the garbage.
Thank you Mr. Saikat for spreading the awareness and the harsh truth that people need to face.
the grandmaster of Bengali. culture
sir,your article is good,but judicial reforms more imp role to play than electrol reforms because at present 150 mp’s facing charges,lets
create two special fast track courts of high court grade and time bound judjement,, if judjement is delayed more than one year after elected,he should resign bec its his duty to prove himself,,,bec after wining he wil change the fate of the case in his five years term by using his influnce….at last some politicians fear of this,wont contest for elections..please any one coment on this