Poll panel needs more powers: CEC

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, December 3

Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi today said the Election Commission (EC) needed greater powers for effectively holding free and fair elections to Parliament and state assemblies as the existing laws were inadequate to deal with new challenges, particularly money power.

“As the EC goes through a set of elections, several new issues and dimensions arise for which there may not be any legal provision available in the relevant laws or may be inadequate to deal with such challenges,” Dr Zaidi said while inaugurating a national conference on electoral laws here.

There was a need for “well-defined electoral laws”, instead of the EC frequently utilising its residuary powers under Article 324 of the Constitution, he said. The conference was attended by EC lawyers and chief electoral officers from states.

Citing an example on the inadequacy of the existing laws, he said EC cancelled the elections in two local area constituencies of Tamil Nadu in May this year by exercising its power under Article 324 after noticing that some candidates were resorting to abuse of money. When the cancelled elections were held in November, the same candidates were fielded, leading to filing of PILs in the Madras High Court, he said.

In such cases, the EC should have power to countermand elections, he added.  Zaidi said the EC was “eagerly” awaiting views of the Union Law Ministry’s task force on a set of 47 electoral reforms suggested by the commission and endorsed by the Law Commission. These included transparency in funding of political parties, decriminalisation of politics, prevention of abuse of money, making bribery a cognisable offence, criminalising paid news and empowering EC to countermand election in cases of bribery and abuse of money.

The EC had begun drafting the revised Representation of People Act aimed at improving the electoral process and strengthening constitutional democracy, he said. “Elections remain a fundamental condition for democratic legitimacy, he noted.