The All India Progressive Forum (AIPF) has urged the Centre to take immediate steps to adopt proportional representation system in India considering the lacunae in the present system of elections.
A resolution to this effect was adopted at a seminar held in the city recently.
The resolution said that in 1974, the electoral reforms committee, headed by retired Judge VM Tarukande, recommended adoption of proportional representation system in vogue in German with suitable changes required for India. Similarly, in 2000, the National Law Commission had recommended adoption of this system in India.
Speakers at the seminar pointed out the proportional representation system has been adopted in 86 countries. They also said for the present Lok Sabha elections, once again major and smaller political parties have arrayed into various political fronts. Smaller political outfits and the organisations for minority communities had to align with major parties forgetting their ideological background just because of the present electoral system, they added.
Another resolution adopted said the Centre should accept the recommendation made by the Dinesh Goswami Committee in 1990 that the Centre should bear the election expenditure of the political parties. Further, the Indrajith Gupta Committee, in 1998, recommended instead of giving the financial assistance in cash, the Centre should provide it as materials used for campaign. The third resolution said the Centre should take steps to set up designated courts for expeditiously disposing of election-related cases.