By Asif khan
➢ Flaws on electoral rule in India :
▪ First past the post (FPTP) System : India follows an election policy of who secures the most number of votes in an election. Example :- If 99% votes are voted for (NOTA) and remaining 1% goes to one party amongst others. The party wins the election to form a government.The main disadvantage because of this system is :- If a party wins they are free to form any kind of policies that reflect their state of mind, this can be harmful – Example :- (BJP) emerged as single largest party in 2014 election and announced demonetisation in 2016 while 69% voters who voted against (BJP) went waste so, (FTTP) system vitiates the spirit of democracy.
▪ Vote banks : Politics has turned religious, Caste communities into vote banks that has made people support candidates of their own religious- Casteist due to the
community feeling India has in its heritage since centuries. Obviously with this mindset of religiously hatred towards minorities will gain more majority votes compare to minority so in this case majority always wins over minority.
▪ Electoral bonds : The election expenditure incurred by the political parties does not indicate a particular source infact in many elections the expenditure of the
candidates far exceeds the set of limit so, secret electoral financially becomes the most corrosive and corrupting electoral factor that’s why policies are made for and influenced by the big corporates.this has to be looked into.
▪ Religion based politics : Religious politics have been marked by desire for power on the religious lines rather than a substantial agenda for social reform of the downtrodden that’s why polarisation of votes took place that’s why majority caste
his vote for majority’s Candidate and vice-versa so, minority deeps down into this also deprived from the rights thats leads atrocities on minorities, communal violence erupt amidst election, dalits are also exploited that’s why social reforms of society lacking behind.
➢ Important measures should be taken to reforms :-
▪ Proportional representation : The rationable underpining are proportional
representation is to consciously reduce the disparity between a party’s share of national voters and it’s share of parliamentary seats, If a major party wins 40% of votes, it should win approximately 40 percent of the seats and a minor party wins 10 Percent of the votes should also gain percent of seats. This congruity between a party’s share of the vote and it’s share of the seats provides an incentive for all parties to support and participate in the system. Proportional representation requires the use of electoral district with more than one member, it is not possible to divide a single seat elected on a single ocassion proportionally. There are many important issues which can have a major impact on how a proportional representation system works in practice. The greater number of representatives to be ected from a district, the more proportional the electoral system will be. Proportional representation system also differ in the range of choice given to the voter – whether the voter can choose between political parties, individual, candidate or both.
▪ Reservation for Minorities : Many ways to enhance the representation of minorities, electoral system which use reasonably large district magnitudes encourage
parties to nominate on grounds that balanced tickets will increase the electoral chances. In proportional representation system can also facilitate the representation of earlier underrepresented or unrepresented groups by encouraging the formation of parties specially representating them. In majority system in particular seats are sometimes set reserved in the legislature for minorities.
▪ Transparency on electoral bind : Political parties and electoral bond need to be brought under the ambit of Right to information (RTI) 2005.
▪ Equal media coverage : All parties should be given to equal media coverage so as to provide a level playing field.
▪ Expenditure : Three steps of expenditure in electioons – Legitimate electioneering cost,
party running cost and T.V air time cost however the accouted legitimate expenditure is a mere percentage of actual spending by Candidate and their corresponding political parties according to national commission to review the working (NCRWC), high cost of election Creates a high degree compulsion for corruption in the public arena.
