We need urgent and far reaching radical electoral reforms to ensure sanity on the political turf. As politics is no longer a mission but has become a very gainful profession, there must be a retirement age mandated by law. The law must also prescribe minimum educational qualifications for those contesting elections. Those having criminal cases pending against them should not be allowed to contest elections. The Anti-defection law came into force in 1985 to deter the endemic political defections by legislators who are motivated by the lure of office and monetary gains.
Not to defeat the very intent of the law, there is a need to ensure that election petitions and more particularly those relating to the Anti- Defection law should be decided very expeditiously in a time bound manner by an independent authority. It must ensure that those elected are held accountable for their deeds and misdeeds. Lawmakers have a fundamental and moral duty to lead by example and must never be law breakers or abuse the trust that people have vested in them.
