The first day of the 10th Annual Conference on Electoral and Political Reforms, being organised by National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), sees the Election Commissioner Mr. H.S Brahma gracing the occasion with an extended speech covering issues concerning the current electoral and political system in the country. He speaks on the following issues while also providing his valuable views –
· Not much has been done with respect to political reforms. Issues of financial transparency and internal democracy with regard to political parties are of paramount importance for accountable and strong delivery based governance in the country.
· Civil society organizations can play an important role in elections by disseminating background information on candidates contesting elections and by popularizing the NOTA (None of the above) button in EVMs.
· NOTA is a strong instrument that has been made available to voters. In the Chhattisgarh 2013 Assembly elections, NOTA was used in large numbers. In the coming years NOTA will assume greater criticality.
· Current rules do not allow the Election Commission to investigate election affidavits and also the commission does not have the power to monitor expenses made by parties and candidates before the nomination process begins.
· India needs a larger number of strong think tanks working in the area of electoral and political reforms, much like those in developed nations; Very few think-tanks in India currently are of world class standard.
Mera Vote Mera Desh (MVMD) Campaign: At the conference, the coordinators of various state chapters of National Election Watch shared their plans for ADR’s nationwide campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha 2014 elections. The campaign will be carried out on all possible means of communication be it digital (social media, web based), electronic (TV, FM radio) and other outdoor avenues of advertising. The objectives of the campaign are
· To disseminate the findings of the ADR survey (largest survey ever conducted in India in about 530 Lok Sabha constituencies)
1) to ascertain the real issues of voters around the country
2) to assess the real performance of MPs as assessed by voters in their constituencies (based on a set of parameters)
· To disseminate background information of candidates who will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections
· To make voters aware of the link between electoral evils such as bribing by candidates and bad governance.
· To popularize among voters provisions such as NOTA in EVM etc
· Not much has been done with respect to political reforms. Issues of financial transparency and internal democracy with regard to political parties are of paramount importance for accountable and strong delivery based governance in the country.
· Civil society organizations can play an important role in elections by disseminating background information on candidates contesting elections and by popularizing the NOTA (None of the above) button in EVMs.
· NOTA is a strong instrument that has been made available to voters. In the Chhattisgarh 2013 Assembly elections, NOTA was used in large numbers. In the coming years NOTA will assume greater criticality.
· Current rules do not allow the Election Commission to investigate election affidavits and also the commission does not have the power to monitor expenses made by parties and candidates before the nomination process begins.
· India needs a larger number of strong think tanks working in the area of electoral and political reforms, much like those in developed nations; Very few think-tanks in India currently are of world class standard.
Mera Vote Mera Desh (MVMD) Campaign: At the conference, the coordinators of various state chapters of National Election Watch shared their plans for ADR’s nationwide campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha 2014 elections. The campaign will be carried out on all possible means of communication be it digital (social media, web based), electronic (TV, FM radio) and other outdoor avenues of advertising. The objectives of the campaign are
· To disseminate the findings of the ADR survey (largest survey ever conducted in India in about 530 Lok Sabha constituencies)
1) to ascertain the real issues of voters around the country
2) to assess the real performance of MPs as assessed by voters in their constituencies (based on a set of parameters)
· To disseminate background information of candidates who will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections
· To make voters aware of the link between electoral evils such as bribing by candidates and bad governance.
· To popularize among voters provisions such as NOTA in EVM etc
