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HOW CAN PARTIES BE REFORMED?
In order to face different challenges, political parties need to be reformed.
Some of the recent efforts and suggestions to reform political parties and their leaders in India:
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The constitution was amended to prevent elected
MLAs and MPs from changing parties.
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The
supreme court passed an order to reduce the influence of money and criminals.
Now, it is mandatory for every candidate who contests elections to file an affidavit giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him.
The new system has made a lot of information available to the public.
- The election commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organizational elections and file their income tax returns.
Besides these, many suggestions are often made to reform political parties:
- A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties.
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It should be made mandatory for political parties to
give a minimum number of tickets, about one-third, to women candidates.
Similarly, there should be a quota for women in the decision-making bodies of the party.
- There should be state funding of elections. The government should give parties money to support their election expenses.
There are two other ways in which political parties can be reformed.
- One, people can put pressure on political parties . This can be done through petitions, publicity, and agitations.
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Two, political parties can improve if those who want this
join political parties.
The quality of democracy depends on the degree of public participation.
