ESSENTIAL ELECTORAL REFORMS
For conducting “Purposeful and Performance” based elections.
1.Free & Fair Elections:
Stop freebies: to help elect worthy guardians and save nation’s precious wealth on non-productive freebies and irrational promises to the voters during States’ & Union elections at the cost of development and employment opportunities (Defiance of Part IV–Directive Principles of State Policy).
Freebies is an Unmindful Act: A gestation period of a few years soon after independence, to creating means and avenues and distributing sustainable reliefs during the build-up period, is understandable. But practicing irrational and despotic trickery to lure the voter for votes has proved disastrous. 71 years on, this unmindful act has pushed the people to utter poverty and illiteracy. Therefore freebies must be banished forthwith.
Peoples’ predicaments (difficulties) due to lack of development:
Congestion, unmanageable crowds (voraciously rising population of human beings and livestock), dirt, filth, rising pollution and depleting environment, lack of space to dump daily garbage have become a daily menace of our lives. It shall not be long when people may be trapped under the debris of their own garbage and compelled to endure the daily shortage and contamination of water, power, and traffic congestion and so on. The maladies are unending.
2.Stop nagging and denouncing each other:
because it germinates fratricidal instincts amongst the people of the land (abuse to the basic law, ‘fraternity, unity and integrity of the nation).
3.Banish criminalization of politics: because by no stretch of imagination criminalization can be for the welfare of the people (abuse to Article13).
4.Law of Maxims to tackle criminalisation of politics:
To tackle criminalization of politics the Judiciary may apply Law of Equity. Law of equity is one of Law of Maxims*
The term equity refers to a particular set of remedies and associated procedures. These equitable doctrines and procedures are distinguished from “legal” ones.
Equitable relief is generally available only when a legal remedy is insufficient or inadequate in some way (like in ‘banishing the criminalization’ of politics).
Law of Equity is the set of maxims that “reign over all the law”. Equity is commonly said to “mitigate the rigour of common law”, allowing courts to use their discretion and apply justice in accordance with natural law.
Equity does not suffer a wrong to be without a remedy.
* Law of Maxims: A principle of law universally admitted as being just and consonant with reason and suggests, that in the larger public good, individual rights can be sacrificed”, such as in case of tainted guardians.
4. Elections by clear mandate of people: by securing 51% votes of a constituency, applying the same criterion as for political parties while forming governments. It will enable true representation of the constituency and weed out dubious characters entering politics.
5. Judiciary is the custodian and implementer of the Constitution:
Learned Judiciary may please play a ‘third eye’ over the governing guardians - to uphold the dignity and reverence of our Constitution.
An Over-view on India’s Electoral due Process:
Our ‘electoral due process’ is an abuse to the purpose of ‘struggle for freedom’ and has sabotaged our revered Constitution. The irrational ‘electoral due process’ of India has rendered our hard earned ‘freedom’ to mere treachery because
“Purposeful and Performance based elections are more important rather than merely conducting purposeless elections and knowingly pushing the nation to dilapidation. Electoral reforms shall open up all constrictions for unbounded progress of the nation!”
News Clipping 58 (p.529 of india in chaos book)].
Some supportive Judicial Citations:
On ‘Free & Fair Elections’
- In a number of judgments, the Supreme Court has held that democracy is part of the basic structure of the Constitution and free and fair elections are its basic foundation, for example;
-“For democracy to survive, ‘rule of law’ must prevail, and it is necessary that the best available men should be chosen as people’s representatives for proper governance of the country.
[Honourable Justices R.V. Raveendran and Markandey Katju, in the case of Gadakh Yashwantrao Kankarrao (2009(2) SCC 492)].
-“Sops shake the root of free and fair elections. “Dole-out of freebies vitiates the electoral process and shakes the root of Purposeful and Performance based elections,” said a Supreme Court bench of learned Justices P. Sathasivam and Rajan Gagoi (TOI, 6 July, 2013, clipping 42A p.504 of my book)”.
-Quote, “By Socrates, a Greek Philosopher:
He also emphasized that country be not run by mere politicians who try to gain power by giving people what they want (reliefs, freebies and dole-outs), rather by those who know what is good for them (development and progress) (p.175 of my book)”.
[Corollary: Even a doting mother may not permit ice-cream or chocolate to her loving child, if it was harmful for her child.]
-Constitution of India also directs the Legislature that, “the philosophy of Directive Principles, Article 37 is for the Legislature to make laws to fulfil the basic incumbencies of Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) and not distribute freebies and allurements.