LS members call for poll reforms

Lok Sabha members cutting across party lines on Wednesday demanded comprehensive electoral reforms and trained guns at the media and the Election Commission....

Lok Sabha members cutting across party lines on Wednesday demanded comprehensive electoral reforms and trained guns at the media and the Election Commission during a discussion on the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill seeking to eradicate non-serious candidates from the elections.

Targeting the EC,Sandeep Dikshit,the Congress MP from East Delhi,said: Phased election is an insult of peoples mandate as the situation changes in 5-6 days. He used the 26/11 terror attack to buttress his argument,underlining that it took place between the polling in three states of Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Delhi and felt that it must have cast its impact on the voters. Election Commissions diktats sometimes lead one to doubt its intentions. By banning drums and posters it deprives the poor men of some earning and allows the big companies to earn through TV ads and hoardings. I fail to understand the economic thinking behind it, he said.

Dikshit also demanded that the media be restrained,saying during the polls the media approached me with packages ranging from Rs 5-7 lakh. He said it has become very difficult for poor candidates to contest elections .

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JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan said free and fair elections were not possible unless candidates contested on government money. It is impossible to contest an election with Rs 25 lakh. Unless the government bears the cost of candidates contesting elections,corruption and malpractices cannot be checked, he said.

Initiating the discussion,BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said the amendments proposed in the Bill were too little and charged the government of ignoring reforms in the Anti-Defection law. Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee felt it was not possible to hold free and fair elections till the government provided independent infrastructure to the EC.

Introducing the Bill,Law Minister Veerappa Moily said the EC had made 22 recommendations to be incorporated in the amended Act but only five have been cleared by the Standing Committee. He said that once all recommendations are cleared he would come to House again with further amendments.