Notes & votes — Gill is a worried man on poll-eve

He said the Commission was keeping a close watch on the electoral process, especially in UP and Karnataka. Electoral officers have been asked to ensure that the polling booths are well apart, so that the secrecy of the vote is maintained.

It is in this context that the Commission has taken the decision to convene a meeting of all political parties on April 29. “The great banyan tree of democracy is beginning to go hollow at the roots,” Gill said, expressing his concern at the erosion of democratic values in the Indian polity.

With Assembly elections due in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal early next year, the meeting will also go into the details of the long-overdue electoral reforms.

Gill said he had written to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, asking him to ensure that the pending electoral reforms Bill was taken up in the Budget session of Parliament.

The Commission has drawn up an 11-point agenda to be taken up at the all-party meeting, including measures to check polling malpractices, eliminate use of money power, providing identity cards to voters and delimitation of constituencies to balance the number of voters.

Gill also made a strong pitch for giving a substantial representation to women, pointing out that women had been given representation at the panchayat level by a constitutional decision. “It is illogical not to have substantive representation for women at the next level, that of the legislative assemblies and Parliament,” he said, adding that political parties should come up with ideas on how to give substantive representation to women.