Former Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy on Sunday called for State-funded elections to prevent the use of money and muscle power in polls. The funding could either be borne directly by the Government or routed through the Election Commission, he said here.
“The Centre should set up a National Election Fund by raising donations from various organisations. This fund should be used to meet the election-relation expenses,” Mr. Krishnamurthy told reporters.
He bemoaned that the use of cash for votes was higher in Tamil Nadu compared with other States. The existing laws were inadequate to check this trend as posting of election observers and vigil by the police have not helped to effectively curb flow of cash, he felt.
Presently, the Election Commission could not do much about cases registered during the campaign period against political parties, their candidates and cadre, as its role ceased once the results were declared.
According to him, the Election Commission must be vested with more powers to deal with cases of violation of model code of conduct such as imposing penalty, disqualifying parties, cadres and candidates for a certain period from participating in the election process.
This could be done through an amendment to the Representation of People Act. Such steps would help in improving the quality of elections.
COMMents
SHARE