ECI meets Rijiju, seeks power to delist inactive political parties
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) met law minister Kiren Rijiju last week, as the process to introduce a host of electoral reforms, including the power to delist inactive political parties and linking Aadhaar to voter ID cards, gathers pace, people familiar with the matter said.
“The law minister was briefed on several reforms that are pending with the ministry,” one such person said on the condition of anonymity. “Once the amendments are drafted, they will hopefully be introduced in the winter session of Parliament.
The power to take action against political parties that have not contested elections for decades but are still enjoying tax exemptions on donations was discussed as well.
HT sent the law ministry a detailed questionnaire but did not receive a response.
An ECI official familiar with the matter said that the voluntary linking of Aadhaar data was agreed upon with the government, while the power to delist specific political parties remains a point to be discussed. In 1999, the Commission sent 200 parties notices as they had not contested any polls. At present, India has over 2,700 political parties, but only seven are recognised at the national level and 50 at the statelevel. A recognised party has to poll 6% of valid votes in four or more states and win at least four Lok Sabha seats.
According to the Association of Democratic Reforms , an NGO working for political and electoral reforms, the number of registered unrecognised parties has doubled in the last decade. The number rose from 1,112 in 2010to 2,301 in 2019.
The Commission, composed of chief election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, has been pushing for the reforms with the CEC writing to the ministry in May to “expedite them”. ECI is pushing for at least five key electoral reforms, including making paid news an electoral offence, linking Aadhaar numbers to the electoral roll , and increasing the punishment for filing a false affidavit (to two years of imprisonment), and has written to the government in this regard, HT reported on June 8.There are nearly 40 proposals pending with the ministry.
Elections in the states of Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are due next year. ECI has been considering a wide range of electoral reforms to usher in digitisation, remove duplication of voters and enable remote voting for non-resident Indians (NRIs), even migrant workers, within the country.