Rajnath suggests abolition of majority voting system

Stressing the need for a special Parliament session on electoral reforms, former BJP national president, Rajnath Singh on Saturday suggested abolition of the first-post-the past voting system (majority voting system) and a curb on mushroom growth of political parties in the country.

Expressing his personal views at the HT Conclave in Lucknow, he said that the majority voting system as practiced in the country was fraught with defects as it often elected a candidate who actually got minority vote. "I personally feel that the first-post-the past electoral system should replaced with a system wherein only candidate who secures more than 50% of the total votes cast is declared winner," suggested he.

He further said that the mushrooming of political parties in the country was a matter of concern and suggested a ban on registration of any political outfit as a national party if it had representation in less than five-six states.

An MP from Ghaziabad, Singh said that a consensus was required among political parties to check the use of muscle power during elections while the problem of misuse of official machinery, he added, could be tackled only by stopping politicization of bureaucracy. "There is a need for exploring a possibility if bureaucrats can be debarred from entering politics before they complete a certain cooling off period (It may be two years, four years or five years) after their retirement," he suggested.

He expressed doubts over the success of the proposed state funding of elections to check the use of black money in elections. "What is the guarantee that a candidate will not get money from other sources to use elections even if electioneering is funded by the state exchequer?" he asked.

Referring to growing perception about electronic voting machines (EVMs) not being tamper-proof, he suggested use of ballot papers till doubts were set at rest once and for all. He also suggested holding of assembly and parliamentary polls simultaneously to same money and time.

While admitting to the need for election reforms and suggested convening a special session of Parliament to discuss suggestion in this regard., the former UP chief minister summarily rejected demands for introduction of measures like right to recall and right to reject. "Right to recall and right to reject were not possible in a big country like India and whosoever is making a demand for this is doing so without applying his mind," he said.

He also made a case against compulsory voting saying forcing anyone to vote would be a contradiction of our democratic principles.