Page 242 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

cleanse the political system for the first time goes to the former chief election
commissioner Mr TN Seshan. He boldly took up the cause of a clean India by
emphasising the need to reform the election system, as he felt it was the
corrupt politicians who had messed up the entire system. As a part of

electoral reforms, the election commission has been able to build consensus
among the political parties on the implementation of a model code of

conduct. The commission now exercises full disciplinary power during the
vital poll period over the poll staff including police and civil offices. The
election commission has accomplished phased induction of a photo identity

card for every voter in the country. The identity card eliminates the evil of
impersonation. The commission has made it mandatory for voters to identify
themselves by voter identity card or any other authorised document. It has

also introduced election voting machines (EVMs) as a checkmate against
tampering of electoral rolls. An affidavit is now mandatory and should
contain information on criminal antecedent, movable and immovable

properties of the candidates and his/her spouse and dependents and their
liabilities and educational qualifications of the candidates. Instructions have
been issued to make available copies of the affidavit to the media, public and

other candidates on the same day of filing of the nominations. In case any
affidavit contains wrong information, the commission can file an election
petition before the high court since the Supreme Court did not vest power in

the returning officers to take action against erring candidates.

As part of electoral reforms, the union government announced on 21
October 2003, a steep hike in election expenditure. As per the union cabinet

decision, the ceiling on election expenditure for Lok Sabha is `25 lakh per
constituency. In case of assembly constituency, the limit is `10 lakh per
constituency with adjustments in the case of smaller states. With all these

reforms, it remains to be seen how successful our system will be in weeding
out corrupt elements. We also need to consider measures to eliminate
criminals from elections, limiting the number of national parties, minimum

qualifications and an upper age limit for politicians.

To conclude, I would say that recent years have seen many changes
initiated by successive election commissioners which have yielded good