There's still much room to make India's electoral system robust

ELECTIONS are of paramount significance in a democratic governance system.

- T MURUGANANDHAM

Ever since the first Lok Sabha elections were held in 1952, the country has seen many electoral reforms, and many organisations and political parties continue to advocate more reforms to make the electoral system robust.

The need for reforms was strongly felt in the last quarter of the 1960s, as the 1967 Lok Sabha elections witnessed a noticeable decline in standards.

One of the important milestones was the 61st amendment to the Constitution which lowered the voting age from 21 years to 18 and came into effect in 1989.

Moving the Bill to amend the Representation of the People Act to lower the voting age in the Lok Sabha, then Law Minister B Shankaranand said it would integrate the youth of the country into the political process.

Youth in the age group of 18 to 21 years are politically conscious and take a keen interest in national and world affairs, he said and added that by lowering the voting age, 47 lakh more young voters would be added to the electoral rolls.

However, for the past 10 years, there have been demands from various quarters that the voting age should be further reduced to 16.

The Anti-Defection Law is another important juncture in the electoral history of India. It was also enacted during the tenure of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. Under it, MPs and MLAs can be disqualified for switching parties.