Shriraj Dusane, National Law University, Nagpur
Abstract
To conduct more free and fair elections, we need independent and powerful election commission, more specific laws and efficient enforcement of these laws by various government bodies. Yet, no election system can ever be perfect. Electoral reforms are changes in electoral systems for efficient transformation of public desires into election results and make the system better. Any democratic society has to keep searching for mechanisms to make more free and fair elections. It is seen that political parties contesting elections, do not maintain proper transparency and accountability in monetary aspects like funding and donations. Political parties in India tend to hide, represent incorrect and incomplete numbers while making declaration about the donations and funding they receive. This misleads innocent citizens, causes corruption, misuse of money and power in election, and gives unethical advantage to political parties that leads to election of wealthy and powerful candidate rather than righteous and deserving candidate. Electoral reforms enacted previously tried to stop these corrupt, non-democratic and unconstitutional practices, by limiting parties’ spending in election and mandating political parties to declare donations, This article gives solutions for various problems in the existing system like the problem of no information available about actions taken by Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT) against parties defaulting to release the contribution reports. This article also gives remedies to tackle incorrect, incomplete or non- disclosure of information in donation statements of national and regional parties that are available in public domain. Moreover this article provides model to ensure accountability and transparency in funding of the political parties in India.
Keywords: Elections, Democracy, Electoral Reforms, CBDT, Contribution Reports.
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