Education and awareness key

Elections are a continuing phase in Indian politics and are held as a process of legitimization of the political power to be acquired.

- Dhurjati Mukherjee

In this scenario, for safeguarding the core values of a free and fair election, it is important to have a just and unbiased electoral process to ensure greater citizen participation.

However, there are certain challenges and issues that the electoral system has faced over the years. Trust and confidence of the citizens in the electoral system cannot be gained without addressing these issues (Election Commission of India, 2016). A discernible decline in the standards began and the distortion in its working appeared for the first time in the fifth General Elections in 1971 which multiplied several times in subsequent elections.

Analysts have found that the election process in our country is the root cause of political corruption. The issue of election reforms has been taken up by Parliament, the government, the judiciary, the media and the Election Commission on numerous occasions but very little has been done. It needs to be corrected at the societal level itself through education and awareness.