Q3(b). What are Electoral Reforms? Why are they necessary? In last ten years what steps have been taken by the Government of India in this direction?

Electoral reforms refer to steps taken to improve fairness, transparency, inclusiveness and efficiency in the electoral process.

Why Electoral Reforms Are Necessary

• To curb criminalisation of politics
• To reduce influence of black money
• To ensure internal democracy within parties
• To protect voter autonomy from coercion or misinformation
• To ensure ethical, free and fair elections

Major Electoral Reforms in the Last 10 Years

1. Electoral Bonds (2018): introduced for transparent political funding (now struck down by Supreme Court in 2024).
2. Linking Electoral Rolls with Aadhaar (2019 Amendment): reduces duplication and impersonation.
3. Ceiling on Anonymous Donations: reduced from twenty thousand rupees to two thousand rupees.
4. Introduction of VVPAT with EVMs (2017) : enhances verifiability of voting.
5. Remote Voting Project: ECI working on remote EVMs to help migrant voters.
6. NOTA (2013, strengthened since): gives voters the right to reject candidates.
7. Model Code of Conduct Enforcement: strengthened through social media monitoring.
8. Digital and Postal Voting Reforms: expanded for service voters.
9. Limits on Campaign Expenditure: periodic revision and stricter audit by ECI.

Electoral reforms remain crucial for deepening democratic legitimacy.