Centre to take steps for reformation of election laws: Kiren Rijiju

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has said that the Central government will take steps, after proper consultation, to implement fundamental electoral changes that are essential in light of the changing times and circumstances.

“The Centre will take steps after due consultation for major electoral reforms which are required as per the new changing time and situation: Hon'ble Union Minister of Law & Justice Shri  @KirenRijiju ji”, office of Kiren Rijiju wrote on a Twitter post on October 6.

The development comes after the Election Commission found that political parties' declarations on the financial implications of election pledges are regular and vague.

The poll panel advocated requiring political parties to present voters with accurate information about the financial sustainability of their electoral promises.

The survey panel has advised that political parties notify voters about the financial repercussions of their manifesto commitments against well-defined quantitative metrics, in addition to supplementing the existing Model Code of Conduct (MCC) requirements.

The present MCC criteria require political parties and candidates to explain the reason for any promises made, as well as the potential methods and means to finance such commitments.

According to the reports, the Election Commission of India, in a meeting, presided over by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and attended by Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey, decided that it cannot remain a mute spectator and ignore the negative impact of some of the promises and offers on the conduct of free and fair elections and the maintenance of a level playing field for all political parties and candidates.

However, in August this year, the Election Commission in an affidavit, said, “it may not be appropriate for the commission being the constitutional authority, to offer to be part of the expert committee especially if there are ministries or government bodies in the expert body”.

It did, however, support the formation of an expert body with representation from a broad range of governmental and non-governmental organizations; concerned regulatory, planning, and policy research institutions; political parties; domain experts crisscrossing relevant socioeconomic sectors — agriculture, finance, banking, social justice environment, and so on.

The Election Commission further added that it will be greatly benefitted from the recommendations of the expert body.

It needs to mention here that the election commission responded to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) brought by attorney Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay to control freebies.