Electoral Reforms in India: Problems and Prospects

Abstract Democracy has not been a free gift for India. India earned its long awaited independence after a long freedom struggle. Election is an important feature of a democracy. Free and fair elections are essential in a healthy democracy. For the success of democracy, it is necessary that people maintain their allegiance towards the democratic institutions based on rule of law. Free and fair election is a key to the success of democracy. In other words we can say if the elections are not free and fair, the people will not have faith in democracy. The experiences of the last fifteen General Elections of our country have shown the pros and cons of the election system. Minor changes have been made from time to time in the election system of our country. Irrespective of reforms our electoral process is facing with many evils like use of black money, casteism, communalism, rigging, abuse of administrative machinery, criminalisation of politics, and even capturing of booths in some areas. All these abuses lead to eroding of faith of the people in free and fair elections. This article is an attempt to critically analyses why electoral reforms are necessary and what steps are taking in this direction. Keywords: Elections, Reforms, Issues, Democracy, Criminalization of Politics, Money Power, Muscle Powe