It’s time for proportional representation to check the role of money: Lok Satta leader
Lok Satta founder Jayaprakash Narayan will attend a meeting convened by the Parliamentary Committee on election reforms in New Delhi on May 26.
Dr. Narayan, who is also the general secretary of Foundation for Democratic Reforms, in a statement on Thursday said as Lok Satta and FDR had been striving for various election reforms, including proportional representation and direct election of Chief Ministers, the Committee extended an invitation to the meeting.
To submit proposals
The Lok Satta/FDR would submit their draft election reforms’ proposals to the Committee prepared after studying the experiences in various countries and keeping the conditions prevailing in the country in mind. Along with JP, other leaders would also participate in the meeting.
He said election reforms were urgently needed in the country as efficient and honest people were not in a position to contest elections and basic democratic principles were being violated.
Dr. Narayan said purchase of votes was the basic reason for lack of transparency in donations to political parties and increase of black money.
A candidate is declared elected even if he gets one vote more under the existing ‘First Past the Post’ system. Though there was no guarantee that spending money would ensure win, but if a candidate does not spend money, he would not be in a position to given a semblance of a fight. Thus, it is better to adopt proportional representation under which seats would be allotted to a party based on its vote share.
He also said defections and splits in political parties could be curbed by setting up multi-member constituencies to facilitate direct relations between people and people’s representatives. The party which got majority should be given 10% seats as bonus to bring in stability. The proportional representation would be ideal for India with different castes, religions and regions.
The Constitution also made it feasible to shift to proportional representation system through a simple Act, he said.
Lok Satta founder Jayaprakash Narayan will attend a meeting convened by the Parliamentary Committee on election reforms in New Delhi on May 26.
Dr. Narayan, who is also the general secretary of Foundation for Democratic Reforms, in a statement on Thursday said as Lok Satta and FDR had been striving for various election reforms, including proportional representation and direct election of Chief Ministers, the Committee extended an invitation to the meeting.
To submit proposals
The Lok Satta/FDR would submit their draft election reforms’ proposals to the Committee prepared after studying the experiences in various countries and keeping the conditions prevailing in the country in mind. Along with JP, other leaders would also participate in the meeting.
He said election reforms were urgently needed in the country as efficient and honest people were not in a position to contest elections and basic democratic principles were being violated.
Dr. Narayan said purchase of votes was the basic reason for lack of transparency in donations to political parties and increase of black money.
A candidate is declared elected even if he gets one vote more under the existing ‘First Past the Post’ system. Though there was no guarantee that spending money would ensure win, but if a candidate does not spend money, he would not be in a position to given a semblance of a fight. Thus, it is better to adopt proportional representation under which seats would be allotted to a party based on its vote share.
He also said defections and splits in political parties could be curbed by setting up multi-member constituencies to facilitate direct relations between people and people’s representatives. The party which got majority should be given 10% seats as bonus to bring in stability. The proportional representation would be ideal for India with different castes, religions and regions.
The Constitution also made it feasible to shift to proportional representation system through a simple Act, he said.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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