1. Fairness at Play: Introducing electoral reforms to
reduce the influence of money and muscle power
in politics
TEAM MEMBERS
ABHINAV YADAV
AISHWARYA DUBEY
ANKIT MADNANI
NISHANT GAURAV
PARTH GYAN
VASISHTHA

2. What do you mean by ELECTORAL
REFORMS ?
Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how
public desires are expressed in election results.
That can include reforms of:
 Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-
round system (runoff voting), instant-runoff voting, citizen
initiatives and referendums and recall elections.
Rules about political parties, typically changes to election laws.
Ballot design and voting equipment.
Safety of voters and election workers.
Scrutineering (election monitoring by candidates, political
parties, etc.).
Nomination rules.
Ballot access.
Eligibility to vote.

3. THIS WAS ONE OF THE HEADLINES OF THE ECONOMICS
TIMES.
“MONEY AND MUSCLE WILL HELP YOU GET ELECTED IN
INDIA, AND NOW, THE ASSOCIATION OF DEMOCRATIC
RIGHTS (ADR) HAS THE FIGURES TO PROVE IT. THE
ORGANISATION HAS COME UP WITH DATA SPREAD OVER
10 YEARS WHICH SHOWS THAT NOT ONLY DO CANDIDATES
AND EVEN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT AND STATE
LEGISLATURES WHO HAVE CRIMINAL RECORDS HAVE MORE
FINANCIAL ASSETS THAN THOSE WITHOUT, BUT THAT IN 16
OUT THE 19 MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES COVERED BY THE
SURVEY, A CRIMINAL OFFENCE AGAINST YOUR NAME WILL
SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.”
In India, muscle and money can help you win elections.

4. “Elections are the only way through which the people’s
representatives may be elected to the legislature and provide to the
country the political executive or the Council of Ministers to rule the
country duly supported by the rein checks of the opposition. The
election process therefore assumes vital importance in the progress of
the country. The responsibility to ensure the purity and impartiality of
the electoral process is not only of the government, the Election
Commission and the political parties but also of every individual and
institution and the media as the fourth pillar of this democratic
edifice.”
Inaugural address by Hon’ble Justice G.N. Ray on 8th
August, 2009

5. Today, the money and muscle power play such a dominant role in
elections, that there is little chance for a common man with honest
intentions and little resources to contest elections , even if he has the
capability. The political parties are responsible for this situation,
since they only consider the “winnability” (money power & muscle
power) of the person for nominating him as the party candidate.
Therefore, the political parties in India should be held totally
responsible for denying the citizens good candidate to choose and
thus killing the spirit of electoral democracy.
The ground conditions have to be improved, so that men who value
certain code of ethics are enabled to come to the centre stage of
politics and contest in the elections.
The use of money power and muscle power in elections are the
direct consequence of corruption in government machinery , which
have made money power and muscle power in elections possible.
Therefore, without eradicating corruption, it would not be possible
to defeat money power and muscle power in elections.

6. Proposed measures
• Active participation of people and NGOs in ensuring free
and fair polls.
• To keep track of candidate’s expenditures.
• Tracking of constituencies, where cases of misuse of money
and muscle power are high.
• Candidates with criminal records should not be allowed to
contest in the elections.
• Voting should be promoted on high scale in the rural areas.
• Election commission should be in interactions with the
lower income group to encourage voting.
• Security should be provided by the central government to
the voters , election officers , election commissioner , etc
who are involved in the undergoing of voting process.

7. *The Election Commission should strive
to assume a bigger role and responsibility
for itself.
*Information and education should be
provided to all sections of the society
regarding voting.
*Right to equality should be stictly
followed for all sections of society .
*The cost for promotion by political
parties should be reduced.

8. *Some sort of examination should be
conducted to mark the various aspects of
the candidates.
*Election commission should start online
voting process under video survillence.
M.P’s and M.L.A’s holding any other source
of profit or income should be debard from
their offices.
*Political parties should be forced to do
internal audits of their finances and
producing evidence of internal democracy.

9. Implementation of the suggested measures
is the biggest issue:
NGO’s should be engaged for the conduction of
voting to help out other staff at the polling booth.
Circulation of black money in the country which
plays a big role in the elections can be largely
curtailed by de monetising one thousand rupee
currency notes and five hundred rupee currency
notes immediately.

10. Impact
*The number of votes to be will
drastically increase.
*It would spread knowledge among
the citizens of the country.
*It would lead to the selection of
the members which would be off
the people’s.

11. Challenges
*Literacy rate of the INDIA is very low.
*Corruption of our country is letting us
down. Necessary steps should be taken.
*Information could not be reached to lower
sections of the. Media should act as a
useful and positive source of information
for all sections of the society.