Electoral reforms are needed to address the influence of money in elections and political parties. Currently, large amounts of black money fund campaigns without proper accounting. The proposed reforms include limiting the amount of funds parties can use for campaigns, banning corporate donations, requiring candidates to disclose sources of income, and monitoring promises made during campaigns. The key challenges will be strict implementation and oversight to prevent corruption from undermining the reforms.
2. Money, Power and Elections
• A committee headed by K. Santhanam in 1964 showed the existence of a
large amount of unaccounted black money and that this level of
corruption was strengthened by the manner in which funds were collected
by political parties.
• Money any day plays a major role in a party’s functioning from running a
state to contesting in elections and campaigning. The problem is in the
way this money finds its way into the pockets of the party or the politician.
• Larger party’s would surely spend more on their campaigning trying to
reach out and affect and change the peoples decision in their favour. So its
also about how the money is used by the party.
3. Our choice
• We would justify our choice by simply stating a fact that the party at the
centre has been in the media lately for all the wrong reasons. Many or
most of them involving the misuse or misplacement of money and
corruption.
• And these also ultimately affect the elections and the results of. So it is
required that reforms be made and implemented which would negate
these problems and give us free and fair elections.
4. Proposed Solution
• Our proposed solution is pretty simple and straight forward. It involves
allowing a party only a particular amount of funds to be used for an
election campaign. This amount would be pre decided by the centre or the
state and hence making sure that the party’s in the elections would stand
a fair chance against each other.
• This will also include banning or minimalizing the amount of company
donations and also strictly monitoring the relations between a politician
and a company.
• Candidates should clearly state their sources of income and with precise
details.
• All the promises made by the campaigning party must be monitored and
reviewed after them being elected to check their progress.
5. Details
• Our idea basically involves the centre monitoring all the expenses and the
use of funds of the party during and after its election campaign. Also
strictly controlling the amount spent by the party.
• A comprehensive background check on the candidates must be done to
know of any possible corporate links. If found the centre must keep a track
and make sure that no under the table transactions are done to run the
campaigning or the party.
• Curbing these to parts would clearly lead to a situation where the
candidate and its party would have very little space to misude the funds
and break laws.
6. Challenges
• Chanllenges will involve making sure that all the required need are being
implemented and that when they are, than they are being followed.
• The problem is not always found to be in the person who breaks the law
but also the people monitoring it as they turn out to be corrupt.
• This would legally require lot of reforms and changes.