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Electoral Reforms - Way Forward Chapter 9

The Commission (L to R): Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey

experience. Some of its successful measures like Model
Code of Conduct or Systema c Voters’ Educa on and
Electoral Par cipa on (SVEEP) could be implemented
without any legal backing. However, a number of its Election expenditure monitoring,
progressive measures might need statutory with its mechanism of thrust areas
amendments. Therefore, the Government's interven on of keeping track of the legal
becomes cri cal to achieve those ends. expenditure incurred by candidates
The Second Administra ve Reforms Commission (Vide Sushil Chandra and political parties for election “
campaigns, and more importantly,
its Fourth Report viz. Ethics in Governance) observes that Chief Election Commissioner “
India saw more number of reforms in the decade ensuring that there is no illegal use
between 1996 and 2006 than any large democracy in of money and other items for
post World War II period. The passage of the landmark buying of votes, is vital to ensure
Elec on Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in Parliament in clean elections.
December, 2021 takes the narra ve forward.

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