×

UPSC Courses

Electoral reforms

Electoral reforms

Electoral Reforms and Postal Ballot

Electoral reforms refer to the changes or improvements made to the electoral process to ensure the integrity and transparency of the electoral system. These reforms are necessary to maintain the credibility of the electoral process and to ensure that every vote counts.  Ensuring free and fair elections (Article 324): Electoral reforms aim to address the issues of electoral malpractices and ensure that elections are conducted in a free and fair manner. Enhancing voter participation: Electoral reforms aim to increase voter turnout and to address the issue of voter apathy, difficulty in accessing polling booths, etc. Reducing the influence of money and muscle…

02 December, 2023 Electoral reforms

Remote Voting for Migrants

Remote Voting for Migrants A new Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM) that would enable domestic migrants to participate in local and national elections was recently proposed by ECI. What is RVM? A modified version of the current electronic voting machine (EVM) is known as an RVM. India's proposed new voting method, the Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM), will enable domestic migrants to participate in national and local elections. The Indian Election Commission is creating the RVM. When elections are held in migrant workers' home states, special remote polling places are set up in other states. From a single remote polling…

18 January, 2023 Electoral reforms

ELECTORAL BOND: EXPLAINED

ELECTORAL BOND: EXPLAINED The total amount collected by parties through the Electoral Bond Scheme has gone up to Rs 10,246 crore from various anonymous donors since its introduction in 2018 as per the SBI report. Electoral bond scheme It was introduced with the Finance Bill, 2017 and for the first time, the EB Scheme was notified on January 29, 2018. These bonds are issued in the multiple of RS 1000, RS 10,000 RS 1 lakh, RS 10 lakh, and RS 1 crore without any maximum limit. An electoral bond is an instrument through which anyone can donate money to political…

02 August, 2022 Electoral reforms

Why should the electoral bonds scheme go?

Why should the electoral bonds scheme go? Introduction For the last three years, electoral bonds have been the dominant method of political party funding in India. In their design and operation, they allow for limitless and anonymous corporate donations to political parties. For this reason, they are deeply destructive of democracy, and violate core principles of the Indian Constitution. A blow against democracy No right to know: And there is no piece of information more important than the knowledge of who funds political parties. Citizens are in the dark about the source of money: it is then impossible to ever…

09 April, 2021 Electoral reforms

SC Hearing Issue of Electoral Bonds

SC Hearing Issue of Electoral Bonds The Supreme Court agrees to hear a plea to stay the fresh sale of Electoral Bonds. The hearing of the case is set before the upcoming state assembly elections. What are Electoral Bonds? Electoral Bonds are interest-free bearer financial instruments for making donations to political parties. They were introduced by the Government of India by the Finance Bill, 2017. The bonds are issued in multiples of Rs. 1,000, Rs. 10,000, Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 10 lakh and Rs. 1 crore without any maximum limit. Key Features of Electoral Bonds: Only the registered Political Parties…

20 March, 2021 Electoral reforms

Electoral Reforms in India: No Postal ballots for NRIs in Assembly Elections

Electoral Reforms in India: No Postal ballots for NRIs in Assembly Elections Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) will have to wait longer to be able to vote by postal ballots, as Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that the facility would not be extended to them for the upcoming elections to the Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal Assemblies. The Election Commission of India (ECI) had written to the Law Ministry on November 27 last year with the proposal of extending postal ballots to overseas electors. “The commission is technically and administratively ready to extend this facility in general elections…

27 February, 2021 Electoral reforms

Electoral Reforms: Remote voting project, e-EPIC

Electoral Reforms: Remote voting project, e-EPIC 25th January is National Voters Day. On this occasion, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that the trials of the Election Commission’s remote voting project would be carried out soon. “We have already started a research project on remote voting using cutting-edge technology with IIT-Chennai and other leading institutions and it has made good progress. Mock trials of this project will begin soon,” he said. The system being developed by the IIT-M uses blockchain for two-way remote voting at designated centres, an EC official had said when the project was started in 2020. Blockchain…

25 January, 2021 Electoral reforms

Myths and the reality of election forecasts

Myths and the reality of election forecasts By, Atanu Biswas is a Professor of Statistics at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata Global examples of mismatch of results from the exit polls Take the example of the Venezuelan recall referendum of 2004 to determine whether Hugo Chávez, then President, should be recalled from office. A huge discrepancy with the exit poll created a massive uproar worldwide. The “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine during late November 2004 to January 2005 was also in the immediate aftermath of the presidential election. The allegations of electoral fraud were strengthened by several exit polls exhibiting a…

12 November, 2020 Electoral reforms

Comparison of Election Commission of India and USA

Turning the spotlight on America’s election custodian Context This article makes a comparison between Indian and US election commissions. There has not been even a single order or intervention passed by the Federal Election Commission of the United States of America. In India, our constitutional fathers had debated in the Constituent Assembly itself the necessity of imbuing the ECI with enormous power. By virtue of being the custodian of the electoral roll, all matters related to keeping the roll updated, fall under the ECI’s domain. Indeed, so vast are the powers accorded to the ECI during the election process that…

09 November, 2020 Electoral reforms

Delimitation: North-east Illegal

Delimitation: North-east Illegal GS-PAPER-2 Governance – Elections Delimitation Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies to represent changes in population and is done on the basis of the preceding Census. Need: To provide equal representation to equal segments of a population. A fair division of geographical areas so that one political party does not have an advantage over others in an election. To follow the principle of “One Vote One Value”. Delimitation Commission Establishment: It was appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India. Constitutional Basis: Article 82 provides the Parliament to…

19 July, 2020 Electoral reforms

Newsletter Subscription
SMS Alerts

Important Links