COMMITTEES RELATED TO ELECTORAL REFORMS‌

The various committees and commissions which have examined our electoral system, election machinery as well as election process and suggested reforms are mentioned here.

1. Joint Parliamentary Committee on Amendments to Election Laws (1971-72).

2. Tarkunde Committee was appointed in 1974 by Jaya Prakash Narayan (JP) during his "Total Revolution” movement. This unofficial committee submitted its report in 1975.

3. Dinesh Goswami Committee on Electoral Reforms (1990)1

4. Vohra Committee on the Nexus between Crime and Politics (1993)

5. Election Commission of India Recommendations on Electoral Reforms (1998).

6. Indrajit Gupta Committee on State Funding of Elections (1998)2

7. Law Commission of India 170th Report on Reform of the Electoral Laws (1999)

8. National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2000-2002)3. It was headed by M.N. Venkatachaliah.

9. Election Commission of India Report on Proposed Electoral Reforms (2004).

10. Second Administrative Reforms Commission of India Report on Ethics in Governance (2007). It was headed by Veerappa Moily.

11. Tankha Committee (Core Committee) was appointed in 2010 to look into the whole gamut of the election laws and electoral reforms.

12. J.S. Verma Committee Report on Amendments to Criminal Law (2013).

13. Law Commission of India 244th Report on Electoral Disqualifications (2014).

14. Law Commission of India 255th Report on Electoral Reforms (2015).

Based on the recommendations made by the above Committees and Commissions, various reforms have been introduced in our electoral system, election machinery and election process. These can be studied under the following four heads.

• Electoral reforms before 1996

• Electoral reforms of 1996

• Electoral reforms after 1996

• Electoral reforms since 2010