Former CEC launches book on elections at JLF, bats for increasing women MPs

Jaipur  :  Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Navin Chawla launched his new book, "Every Vote Counts: The Story Of Elections in India," at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Saturday.

Chawla mentioned a real-life example during the 2008 Rajasthan assembly election, when Union Minister C.P. Joshi lost the election by a single vote. It was later revealed that neither his wife nor most of his family members had cast their votes.

"His wife must have been very sorry she couldn't vote that day as she was busy," Chawla noted.

Chawla stated that a problem that needed immediate address was increasing the number of women Members of Parliament to at least one-third of the House.

He added that it would be even better if half the MPs were women.

(The Rajya Sabha passed a bill in March 2010 reserving 33 per cent of seats in parliament and the state legislatures for women. The bill is currently pending in the Lok Sabha.)

Chawla also expressed concern at the present state of finances in Indian politics, "which is rich in terms of the huge amounts of unaccounted money that is spent during the elections".

He said that all governments, regardless of party affiliation, drag their feet when it comes to drafting rules to create accountability for the vast sums spent during elections.

Chawla also highlighted that while MPs are becoming rich and powerful, that does not mean that the "voice of the people" is being heard. 

He shared with the audience that political parties are not required to document any donations they receive below Rs. 20,000.

As a consequence, Chawla said, there have been thousands of millions of transactions of exactly Rs. 19,999 over the last 22 years.

He added that whichever government comes to power pays no heed to the issue because it "suits none".

Chawla asked the audience to keep their "faith in the Election Commission of India and the electronic voting machine".