Law Commission 170th report
Also called: Reform of the Electoral Laws (1999) · Topic: Electoral Reforms: Money, Criminalisation and Simultaneous Elections · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Law Commission's 170th report, Reform of the Electoral Laws (1999), was prepared under Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy. It is one of the main plans for reforming elections. It recommended:
- internal democracy (regular party elections) and financial transparency inside political parties;
- a partial list system, where some seats are filled from party lists in proportion to vote share;
- removing the "split" exception in the anti-defection law;
- debarring candidates charged with serious offences;
- simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and assemblies.
On state funding, it said full state funding should come only after a law regulating parties is in place.
Example
The 91st Amendment (2003) deleted the split exception, so this recommendation became law. Debarment at the charge stage and the list system were never adopted.
Don't confuse with
- Law Commission 255th report (2015): it focused on party finance, paid news, opinion polls, the totaliser and how Election Commissioners are appointed.