Electoral Reforms: Why and How

Zusatztext

<p><span>Democracy and free and fair elections go together and one cannot exist without the other. Free and fair elections can be ensured if the machinery which conducts the election is independent and the law under which the elections are conducted is faultless. The objective of any electoral reform needs to be the deepening of the democratic process, strengthening the instruments of public accountability and guaranteeing opportunity for meaningful voter participation. With large constituencies, multiplicity of parties and candidates, absence of ideology, politicization of caste and communal identities and building of vote banks, elections in India had become very expensive, thereby generating corruption and black money and leading to criminalization of politics. Inspire of concrete suggestions for electoral reforms the electoral system has not changed much. Electoral Reforms to make the democratic polity of India vibrant and resilient are too important to be left exclusively to government, political parties or the Election Commission.</span></p>

Autorenportrait

<p><span>K. Raman Pillai is former Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, University of Kerala. He also served as Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences. He has written extensively on topics relating to National and International Politics and has nine books to his Credit. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Research Journal, Social Science in Perspective, published by C. Achutha Menon Foundation. R.K. Suresh Kumar is Professor of Political Science and former Head, Department of Political Science, University College, Thiruvananthapuram. His recent books include Governance and Development - Lessons and Experience of Kerala (2007) and Left Politics in Kerala (2009). He is the Editor of University College Journal of Politics and Society (UCJPS) and Social Science in Perspective. P. Sukumaran Nair is former Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, NSS College, Pandalam, Kerala. His recent publications include Indo - Bangladesh Relations (2008) and Human Rights in a Changing World (Ed) 2011. He is also the Executive Editor of the Journal Social Science in Perspective.</span></p>

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