GS Advance Program for UPSC Mains 2025, Cohort - 1 Starts from 24th October 2024 Click Here for more information
It is time to have a debate on proportional representation, says ex-CEC S.Y. Quraishi
Context:
- Various electoral reforms are currently being debated, from improving transparency in party funding to holding simultaneous elections.
Electoral bonds:
- Electoral bonds, as announced by the Union Finance Minister, hold the promise of making political funding transparent, which has been a long-standing demand of the Election Commission (EC).
Benefit of electoral bonds:
- Cash transactions will not happen as people will have to buy bonds through the bank.
Why electoral bonds are significant?
- Without transparency in political funding, free and fair elections.
- The government has decided to give precedence to the donors’ wish to be anonymous.
- There was a CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) report of 2015 which said that donors want anonymity for two reasons:
1- other parties would make a beeline for their donations, and
2- Fear of political reprisal from those not getting the donation.
- The donors’ desire for transparency has got preference over citizens’ desire for transparency and the people’s right to know, which is more important in a democracy and critical for the fairness of elections.
Has there been any reprisal against a donor in the past?
- The solution lies in having a National Electoral Fund, where companies can donate without indicating preference for any political party and thereby avoiding the reprisal they claim to fear.
- The fund can be distributed transparently on the basis of actual performance.
Will that money be enough for political parties?
- Between 2009 and 2014, the total donation shown by all political parties was ₹4,000 crore.
- With all their efforts at blackmailing, arm-twisting and corruption, they got ₹4,000 crore.
- They get ₹5,500 crore with dignity, by cheque, based on their performance, on objective criteria.
- All political parties have been demanding an end to electoral corruption, and state funding of elections.
Simultaneous elections:
Arguments in favour:
- People love elections as the vote is the only power they have.
- Election time provides work opportunities to lakhs of youth
- Frequent elections are good for the economy as the money goes from the rich to the poor.
- National and local issues don’t get mixed up.
- Regional parties have an increasingly important role to play.
Argument against:
- Dislocation of normal life.
- Huge cost involved.
- Money in elections is the fountainhead of all corruption.
- Communalism and casteism are at a peak during elections.
- Hateful, divisive politics is the consequence of frequent elections.
First- past –the post system (FPTP):
- There is demand for replacing FPTP with proportional representation (PR).
Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT):
- Every political party has raised questions about EVMs at different times.
- In any case, after introduction of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT), there is no ground left to quibble.
- VVPAT makes the system transparent and foolproof.
- The EC has now committed to the Supreme Court that every election in future would be with 100% VVPAT.
- The Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections were the first-ever full VVPAT elections.
Credibility of the EC:
- The problem lies in the process of appointment of Election Commissioners.
- They are appointed by the government of the day with no consultation with the Opposition.
- The most powerful electoral body in the world has the most defective system of appointment.