In letter to Law Minister, CEC Sunil Arora pushes for pending poll reforms

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is learnt to have received a letter from Arora last week, highlighting eight pending reform proposals. The letter states: “During a meeting held on 21.01.2019 between Election Commission and Secretary, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law & Justice, it was mentioned by Dr G Narayana Raju that the proposals of electoral reforms would be given due consideration by the Ministry, more so because many proposals have been pending for rather long.”

Among the proposals highlighted by Arora is one on making paid news and filing of false affidavit a corrupt practice with punishment of two years imprisonment.

Arora wrote: “In order to have ‘fair’ election, a level playing field is paramount. This can only be achieved by mitigating the influence of money in elections. Therefore, publishing and abetting…’Paid News’ in connection with election should be added in the category of corrupt practice.”

Flagging the apprehension that political parties may merely be set up for availing provisions of income tax exemption, the CEC reiterated the Commission’s demand for powers to de-register a party. At present, the RP Act only provides for registration of political parties; the EC has no power to revoke that registration.

Arora has also sought changes in the contribution form (Form 24A) meant for political parties to ensure that they disclose information even for donations that are less than Rs 20,000. Currently, parties are obligated to provide details of contributions of more than Rs 20,000.

The poll panel chief has again proposed four cut-off dates for voter enrolment in a calendar year — on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1. Currently, only those above 18 years as on January 1 are eligible to enrol themselves as voters that particular year. So a youth turning 18 on January 2 would have to wait until the next year for his/ her enrolment and could miss voting for election/s held that year.

On capping the number of seats a candidate can contest at one – at present one can contest from two seats – the letter states, “If restricting to one seat is not acceptable, the Commission had proposed that if a person contests from two seats and wins both, resulting in a by-election from one of the two seats, he should deposit an appropriate amount to the government account as expenditure for holding the by-election.”