ELECTORAL REFORMS

Government of India is planning to amend the law to disqualify those who have been accused of heinous offences and against whom trial courts have framed charges. The existing law, namely, the Representation of Peoples Act leaves a loop hole that has been adequately exploited by criminals to enter the legislation so far. The criminal cases normally drag on for decades and also result in long delays due to pending appeals against convictions.

Heinous offences listed under the proposal include Terror, Murder, Kidnapping of any form, Counterfeiting of Stamp Paper or Currency, Sexual assaults against the women, offences under the anti narcotic drugs law and sedition. The proposal also has a provision to fund the election expenses of women candidates from Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe/OBC communities whose annual income is less than Rs.5 lakh and family assets less than Rs.22 lakhs.

The author is partially happy that there is some progress in the thinking of Government of India to proceed in the direction of cleansing the political arena by making few amendments in the electoral law. The ultimate requirement will be achieved only when there are drastic amendments to the basic structure of Indian Constitution as suggested by the Author in his blog dt.4.8.2011