Electoral reforms: Ethical issues in governance

“No Office in this land is more important than that of being a citizen”. –Felix Frankfurter

The word ‘Democtatic’ enshrined in the Preamble of Indian Constitution is enough to substantiate the power of elections in India. Country's administration should be governed not by the bullet but by the ballot, which is necessary for the betterment of the country. The scandals and controversies that marked the 14th Lok Sabha and the recent events after the general elections in India were announced, where smaller and regional parties have held bigger parties to ransom over various issues like that of ‘seat-sharing’, have once again highlighted the urgent need of electoral reforms in India. Some of the recommendations discussed in this paper are heated topics of discussion of various forums and have found acceptability among various policy-making organizations including the Election Commission of India. It is now high time that they are implemented in the earnest. The purpose of this paper is to provide background information on issues in our electoral process and outline some electoral reforms that have been pen down in the past, in order to serve as a platform for a renewed national dialogue on electoral reforms.