Course of action now

• We need to persuade the Ministry of Law and Justice (which is the nodal ministry on election matters) to revise the draft Bill now pending before Parliament. Such a Bill should incorporate the provisions relating to rights to contest for elective office and proxy voting.
• The revised Bill should be approved by the Union cabinet
• The revised Bill should then be introduced in Parliament and enacted
• The term of the 14th Lok Sabha Expires in May 2009, unless it is dissolved sooner. As elections are likely to be held in March or April, the law should be enacted before February.

If the amendments to the Representation of the People Act are not enacted before the dissolution of Lok Sabha, the Bill will lapse. The new government and Parliament will have to take it up afresh again. Therefore, all of us must act swiftly now and ensure that the revised Bill is drafted by the Law Ministry, approved the Union Cabinet, introduced in Parliament, and enacted before 2009.

Lok Satta, as a responsible political party committed to extending voting rights to all Indians, will do everything possible to mobilize people and ensure enactment of the law.

Simultaneously, electoral rolls in India are often full of errors, and we require a permanent, citizen-friendly registration facility in a trustworthy institution like the neighbourhood post office. This change can be effected by mere change of procedures under the current law. Lok Satta's strong advocacy since 1999 resulted in significant improvement in voter registration. The final step in this process is making post office the nodal agency for voter registration. Lok Satta will do everything possible to enable permanent voter registration through the 155,000 delivery post offices all over India

With warm regards,

Jayaprakash Narayan
National President of Lok Satta Party