No political will to usher in electoral reforms: Ex-CEC TS Krishnamurthy

Chennai: Lamenting the “lack of political will” to enforce electoral reforms in the country, former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) T.S. Krishnamurthy said India, which is late in taking up electoral reforms, should at least now “push through” certain easy amendments for the well-being of the country.

“We need to have certain basic reforms for the development of nation as money power is likely to increase in future,” he said while participating in a panel discussion on electoral reforms during a one-day national seminar on politics, democracy and governance held here under the aegis of the Prime Point Foundation and e-magazine PreSense, at IIT on Saturday.

Certain reforms which required a simple majority in the Parliament or needed easy amendments could be passed. “I have compiled the recommendations and sent them to the then Prime Minister and leaders of various political parties in 2004. I have distributed nearly 800 copies of the recommendations on electoral reforms. My only regret is after 12 years we are still looking for reforms. Due to lack of political will we could not implement even those recommendations that require simple majority,” Krishnamurthy said and added blaming it on lack of political consensus was but an euphemism for not taking the reforms forward.

Once in five-years affair: Talking about electoral reforms is a one-day affair, recurring once in five years, according to CPI(M) MP T.K. Rangarajan. “We discuss about electoral reforms once in five years and then give a five-year holiday,” he said and stated that it was high time the reason why educated people don’t come forward to exercise their franchise should be ascertained.