Electoral Reforms and the Strengthening of Democracy in India

Abstract

The principle of representative democracy is that it is carried out through free and fair elections, and the legitimacy of every government that comes from the elections depends on the credibility of the electoral process. This paper deals with the electoral reforms in India and its role in making the democracy stronger with the help of secondary data collected from Election Commission of India, Association for Democratic Reforms, official committee's report and scholarly articles. It discusses the key changes since the 1980s such as lowering the voting age, the anti-defection law, photo identity cards, electronic voting machines, mandatory disclosure of candidates' antecedents, the option of None of the Above and the paper trail for electronic voting machines. It then examines the trends in the criminal conviction record of the members of the Lok Sabha elected and the increase in the declared wealth of these elected members, of the scale and cost of general elections. While the paper says that India has made a success of election administration and increased information for voters, it points out that money power, criminalisation of politics, intransparency of electoral processes and the lack of intra-party democracy are still serious problems. It calls for a new push for reform in the area of political finance, integrity of candidates and the independence and transparency of electoral institutions in the second step of the reform process.