SC Judgements related to Electoral Reforms:
- UOI vs ADR: SC directed EC to require candidates to furnish information about their criminal records
- Kisan Shankar vs Arun Dattatraya Sawant: SC set aside the election of a candidate that failed to disclose material information
- SC has directed government to conduct enquiries in cases where MPs and MLAs assets have risen above 10x in 5 years. The court said the disproportionate assets cases against MPs and MLAs ought to be fast-tracked
Atal Bihari Vajpayee – “Every legislator starts his career with the lie of the false election return he files.”
What is the root cause of electoral malpractices?
Official expenditure limits are too low. Candidates rely almost completely on unaccounted cash from undisclosed donors. This renders all other transparency initiatives of the EC redundant.
Once in office, they must find ways to repay their debts to these donors, and often do so by favoring them through policy changes or resource allocation.
Why increased voter turnouts in recent elections?
- About 80% turnout in recent elections
- Why?
- Not because of freebies as people take freebies from all parties but vote only one. Also large number of NOTA votes testifies that
- Not because of fear. Reason same as above
- Reason is:
- For development
- Voting is a matter of pride
- No political influence on officials due to Modal code of conduct
- All (poor and rich) are equal inside polling booth as each vote has same value
New changes by EC:
Election contestants will have to declare their own and their spouses’ sources of earning in the affidavits filed before contesting polls.