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The Sixth National Conference on electoral and political reforms, organized by ADR and NEW was held on April 10 & 11 2010 at Samanvay Bhavan, Bhopal. In addition to sharing the Lok Sabha 2009 Election Watch experience it had also covered special sessions on “Political party reforms”, “The media and the paid news in elections” and “Election watch in the local elections”.
The delegates to the conference comprised of civil society organizations, eminent citizens, media, senior bureaucrats and Police officials, leaders from the corporate sector and the political parties. The National Election Watch groups from each state were present and shared their experience. Based on year long consultations in their respective states by the election watch groups the following resolutions were unanimously passed at the conference:
Resolutions passed at Bhopal Conference
1. People with criminal records should not be allowed to contest elections. In particular, those with serious charges related to murder, financial fraud, and electoral fraud and so on.
2. The option of “None of the above” should be there on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)
3. Political parties need to be regulated. In particular strict rules enacted through law for inner party democracy and financial transparency should be in place. All office bearers and candidates for elections should be selected through a democratic process; preferably by secret ballot for all registered party members.
4. The draft Bill to regulate Political Parties, as given in the 170th Law Commission report should be passed by Parliament
5. The maintenance of accounts by political parties and audit thereof by agencies specified by the Comptroller and Auditor General should be made compulsory.
6. The relevant sections of the Representation of People Act(RPA) pertaining to electoral malpractices need to be amended and stricter penalties imposed
7. Electoral malpractices should be declared criminal offenses carrying a sentence of two years or more and the RPA should be suitably amended for this.
8. Statement of election expenses should be filed by all candidates within a month of elections and defaulters should face penalty, including nor being allowed to take oath until they fulfill this obligation
9. Elected MPs and MLAs should be required to give an annual report to their constituency giving details of their accomplishments for previous year and the plan for the next year.
10. There should be an independent body or commission that takes decisions on salaries and perks of elected representatives. It is a clear conflict of interest now where they fix their own remuneration.
11. The list of polling agents should be made public well in advance of the elections.
12. There should be a mix of official and non official observers during elections, selected by the Election Commission. The same facilities and powers should be given to both categories of observers.
13. The Chief Electoral officer of a state should be from the cadre of another State. The CEO is sometimes apprehensive that after his term is over, he will have to work under the same political authorities over which he exercised powers during elections as CEO. This will avoid that problem.
14. Appointment of the CEC and SEC should be through a multi party system including the leader of the ruling party and the opposition, the Speaker and the Chief Justice.
15. The tradition of the Collector/DM/DCs holding at least three press conferences giving out the election arrangements needs to be followed meticulously. In some places this was not done.
16. All the electoral reforms proposed by the Election Commission and sent to the Prime Minister’s office in 2004 should be taken up at the highest priority.
