Pranab Mukherjee calls for electoral reforms, more Parliament seats

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday advocated the need for strong electoral reforms to strengthen the democratic process saying it is time to look at legal provisions for increasing the number of parliamentary seats.

Mukherjee also said in the existing Indian parliamentary system, though political parties with less numbers of seats enjoy equal rights and authority with the party in power, they have "no responsibility". He said it is necessary to undertake a "dispassionate analysis of the way in which our electoral process is functioning with a view to address the shortcomings in the system".

The president was speaking at a seminar on Economic Reforms With Reference To Electoral Issues where chief justice of India J.S. Khehar said electoral promises routinely remain unfulfilled and manifestos turn out to be mere pieces of paper, for



which parties have to be held accountable. "Chief Justice of India very emphatically and relevantly pointed out accountability, but the system of parliamentary governance is such that if somebody gets 51 (majority) out of 100, 51 has all the rights and authority and in our electoral process, less than 51 have all the rights and authorities but no responsibility," Mukherjee said.

Elaborating the need for electoral reforms, the president said freeze on the population figure was imposed in 1976 which has been extended till 2026 by an Act in 2001 due to which Parliament today represents the figure of 1971 census whereas same has increased manifold. "The Constitution (Forty Second Amendment) Act 1976 imposed a freeze on the population figure for readjustment at the 1971 census and has been extended by the Constitution (Eighty-fourth Amendment) Act 2001 till 2026.