1. Fairness at Play: Introducing Electoral
Reforms to Reduce the Influence of Money
and Muscle Power in Politics
REFORMERS
GAURAV
MAHESHWARI
SURBHI
GARG
RITUBHAN
GAUTAM
MAYANK
AGRAWAL
ISHA
RUSTAGI

2. Ajit Nath Ray was
appointed as Chief
Justice of India bypassing
5 seniority trail
Former Union Minister
convicted of murder in
12 years old case while
still in office
A senior leader of a
national party accepted
having spent 50 times of
the maximum limit of
expenditure cap
Democracy is in a Silent Transition Phase…
Screaming to be Heard…

3. Candidates
with Criminal
Records
Party Debarment
• Party accountable for candidates’
integrity
• Micro-level scrutiny of probable
candidates by the party
• Candidature
annulled only if
proven guilty by
the highest court
of the land
• No penalties
imposed on the
parent party
IMPLEMENTATION
• Disqualify any candidate accused of an offence punishable by
imprisonment for 2 years or more, even when trial is pending, provided
charges have been framed against him/ her by a competent court
• Convicted candidates shall be eligible for fast track trial of his case
• Debar the parent party from contesting from the particular constituency
in the coming by-elections
ADVANTAGES
• Discourages parties from projecting candidates with dubious
background and vested interests
• Prevents deliberate delaying and manipulation of trials via exploitation
of the bureaucratic framework by ‘law-makers’

4. Candidates
with Criminal
Records
Democratization of Party
• Creation of a ‘filter system’ within
the party
• Transparency in party operations
• Nomination for
party posts:
discretion of party
President
• Candidate’s ability
to consolidate votes
overrides his actual
credentials
IMPLEMENTATION
• Conduct regular elections within the party strictly in coherence with
Election Commission norms
• Appoint representative of Election Commission as observer for elections
within the party
ADVANTAGES
• Provides equal opportunity to all members to rise through party ranks
irrespective of money and muscle power
• Throws light on the yardsticks employed by the party to choose its
representatives

5. Neutrality of State During Elections
• Introduction of impartial environment for
elections
• Avoidance of eleventh hour bureaucratic
restructuring
• Nomination for
party posts:
discretion of party
President
• Candidate’s ability
to consolidate votes
overrides his actual
credentials
IMPLEMENTATION
• Relax incumbent government’s domestic authorities 3 months before
the elections
• Appoint a council comprising representatives of all parties and retired
judges as the interim legislative authority
The modalities of the suggested framework need to be minutely and
exhaustively debated upon
ADVANTAGES
• Curbs the scope for disguised misuse of state resources for personal
political agenda
• Diminishes the unfair edge of people in power over their opponents
Patronizing of
State Resources
• Apart from
legislation, all
powers remain
intact during the
election period

6. State Funding for Elections
• Strict regulation of campaigning
expenditure
IMPLEMENTATION
• Fund 75% of the total campaign expenditure for National and Regional
parties from State treasury
• Provide optional infrastructural support such as promotional
advertisements for independent candidates
• Bear the cost through 5% taxation of total donations collected by parties
• Reclaim the funding in case the candidate receives less than 1/6th of the
total votes
ADVANTAGES
• Ensures enforcement of expenditure cap on election campaigning as
defined by Election Commission
• Reduces the influence of money power, thereby giving independent
candidates a fair chance to contest
• Usual expenditure
around 5 times of the
prescribed limit (40
lakhs per constituency
in Lok Sabha elections)
• Chance of winning
directly correlated with
the assets ownership
Unaccounted
Funds

7. Empowering of Election
Commission
• Enhancing the stature of EC as a
governing body for elections
IMPLEMENTATION
• Provide judiciary powers to Election Commission to investigate and
deliver verdict against felonious candidates during election period
• Instate the Commission with the right to deregister a party and frame
rules to conduct elections
• Ban the transfer of Election Commission officers as soon as general/ by-
elections become due
• Monitor and act upon inflammatory speeches of political leaders at
local/ National level for at least 3 years period before election
• Exercise strict vigilance over delimitation of constituencies
ADVANTAGES
• Ensures opportune actions against complaints at the time of elections
• Curbs intentions to propagate communal hatred and polarize votes
Election
Commission:
Parking Place
for Bureaucrats
• Semi-judiciary status
to Election
Commission at the
time of elections
• Dormant for most part
of the election term

8. EC: A Community Combined
Commission
• Political awareness and training of
citizens
IMPLEMENTATION
• Prosper organic relations with NGOs, educational institutions and other
community groups to create awareness
• Enlist the support of youth as well as senior citizens to bridge the gap
between EC and community
ADVANTAGES
• Improves the credibility of EC via the large outreach of different
segments of the community
• Imparts political training to the future pillars of Indian Legislature
Election
Commission:
Parking Place
for Bureaucrats
• Election Commission
solely constituted by
President on
recommendations of
the government
• Close to zero
interaction with the
public

9. “Social Reform is the Mother of Electoral Reform”
All black and white recommendations are futile without
improvement in index of Social Reform
Recommendations
• Negative voting: Provide citizens with the right to deselect a candidate
• Yearly audit of assets: Monitor the growth of assets of candidates in term
• Index of Political Consciousness: Develop an index to gauge political awareness
• Penalty for false declaration: Punish candidates in wake of false declaration

10. REFERENCES
• Analysis of Criminal Financial Details of MPs of 15th Lok Sabha,
National Election Watch and Association for Democratic
Reforms (2009)
• Ethics in Governance, Second Administrative Reforms
Commission, Govt. of India (2007)
• Financing of Election Campaigns, PRS Legislative Research
(2008)