Poll reforms high on Govt.'s agenda, says Advani

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 24. Asserting that the much-needed poll reforms were high on the Government's agenda, the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, today said the Government was considering two reports on the issue of money power in elections.

``Two reports, the unanimous report of the all-party Indrajit Gupta Committee on Poll Financing and the Congress Party's report on the issue of corporate donations, are being considered by the Government,'' he said.

Citing the recent amendment of the mode of election of Members to the Rajya Sabha, he said the members would now be elected through an open ballot so that there was no scope for malpractice in the form of cross-voting or `purchase' of MLAs.

He was addressing a workshop on ``Money and Democratic Politics'' organised by the Election Commission(EC), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Commonwealth Secretariat here.

Claiming that State financing of election by itself was not going to solve all the problems, Mr. Advani said corruption was an evil which has to be attacked from all sides.

``What would be primarily achieved by a scheme of poll grants is that all parties and candidates in the field who really matter will be assured a minimum wherewithal for electoral campaigning. It will become practical thereafter, for parties so minded, to free themselves completely from the influence of big money and black money, whose main instrument of controlling Indian politics today is election funds,'' he said.

The recommendations of the Indrajit Gupta Committee report speak of the kind of assistance that could be given by the State with no public funding in cash but in kind, he said. The Government was considering the possibility of individual contributions and see whether some tax relief can be given on that.

Delving deeper on the sources of money for fighting elections, he said parties do not have their own sources of income. ``We have two types of parties. One, those that raise resources through regular and systematic fund collection drives conducted by their members. And those that depend almost entirely on contributions by wealthy people and business houses.''

He, however, reminded that dependence on sources for large contributions was never a happy experience.

``If necessary care and diligence is not shown by the leadership, it can have very negative consequences on a political organisation.''

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