EC to seek law ministry suggestion on poll spends
NEW DELHI : In the wake of demands from political parties to find ways to increase the participation of women either voluntarily or through legislation in electoral politics, and to impose a limit on spending by political parties during campaigns, the election commission (EC) will soon write to the Union law ministry seeking directions to address these issues, officials aware of the developments said.
These suggestions were received at an all-party meeting held in August, and will first be discussed at a meeting of the commission in the coming week, the officials said.
They, however, added that another demand for returning to ballot papers rather than using EVMs has been rejected outright by the poll panel.
The demand for increasing the participation of women was backed by most of the parties, including the Samajwadi Party (SP) which in the past opposed 33% reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies for 15 years. The party has now supported the move with a caveat - it has told the commission that while it is opposed to the women’s reservation bill that was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010, it supports the demand for reservation for women through other means.
“The party has not made any recommendation on the issue, but a few others suggested reserving a constituency for women candidates,” said an EC official who asked not to be named. The Lok Sabha never voted on the bill, which lapsed after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014.
SP spokesperson Rajesh Dikshit said: “The EC should make provisions for increasing women’s participation.
When parties are in Opposition, they say one thing, but there has been no consensus on the issue.” On whether the reserving a constituency for women will be acceptable to parties and will serve the purpose of increasing women’s participation, D Raja of the Communist Part of India said: “As of now, it is hypothetical.