Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani today had a swipe at the Election Commission when he said election reform laws were formulated by people who had never fought elections.‘‘There are those who are in electoral politics and those who are not. The latter think something is theoretically correct and ask us what is wrong with declaring a candidate’s assets and liabilities or criminal cases at the time of filing nomination,’’ he said.‘‘A common man might think there is nothing wrong with that. But the fact is that even violation of Section 144 is a criminal offence,’’ he said during the ‘Round-table on Police Reforms’ organised by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.On police reforms, Advani maintained that police should not be over-criticised. ‘‘I do not agree that police reforms should be seen only through the perspective of human rights as they are important for good governance also.’’‘‘Police are more often than not blamed for human rights abuse. It should be remembered that the local police force helped Punjab win peace.’’ ‘‘If, for the first time, people are interested in J-K’s poll percentages and not on who’s going to win, it’s because of the police there.’’ Saying cross-border terrorism had hiked the duties of the police force, he said: ‘‘Now police have to take care of not just internal security but national security also.’’
