Electoral Reforms
We, the warriors of democracy…
In his now famous speech to budding police officers in Hyderabad on how civil society groups can be subverted, the National Security Adviser, Ajit Kumar Doval, widely regarded as the third most important official in the security establishment, significantly said: “The quintessence of democracy does not lie in the ballot box … it lies in the […]
Towards Openness
Budget promises more transparency in poll funding. But why anonymous donors? The 2017-18 Union budget had an unusual feature, a section titled “Transparency in Electoral Funding”. Many commentators have hailed it as a positive step. But is it? An interview with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in this newspaper is revealing. He stated: “The present system […]
Show us the money
Political parties must be made to account for the bulk of their funding Three actions of the government in the last couple of months seem to give a lie to its intentions on political and electoral funding. Lets start with the latest action. On March 26,it was reported that the government had blocked the Election […]
The Citizen’s Right to Know
It needs to be reiterated that the judgement is not about disqualifying people from contesting elections, it is about disclosure of the criminal background of the candidates, if any.India is often referred to it as a vibrant and vigorous democracy. This might well be justified compared to a large number of other countries that gained […]
Reforming the electoral system
THE founding fathers of the newly independent India resolved to constitute the country into a ‘democratic republic’.A democracy, according to one definition, is ‘the form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.’ The same dictionary describes […]
The Court must fill the void
The Election Commission’s decision to implement the recent Supreme Court judgment to make information about criminal background of candidates available to voters, has stirred a hornet’s nest. It has been alleged that the Supreme Court and the Election Commission (EC) have transgressed into the legislative arena. Each organ of the state must perform its assigned […]