A Parliamentary panel has sent a questionnaire on electoral reforms to all political parties and the Election Commission, seeking opinions on whether election systems other than the one currently used in India can be considered, reported The Indian Express on Monday.
The committee has highlighted concerns that the current first-past-the-post system may not be the best, given the results of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in March, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party had won 312 of the 403 seats.
“There are different systems of elections – like first past the post, list system, proportional representation, ranked or preferential voting, and mixed systems,” the questionnaire says. “In our country, we follow the FPTP system for Parliamentary and Legislative Assembly elections and the proportional representation system for the Presidential election. What is your view in the matter? Please also suggest an alternative system, if any.”
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, is headed by Congress leader Anand Sharma.
“Apprehensions are now being raised that in recent years, the FPTP system is not the best suited system, as is evident from the recent Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh where results have indicated that a party getting 39% of the vote share [BJP] won 312 seats and parties getting 22% [Samajwadi Party] and 21% [Bahujan Samaj Party] of the vote share won only 47 and 19 seats, respectively,” the panel noted.
The committee has also asked the Election Commission to provide a comparative analysis of the FPTP system followed in India and the United Kingdom.
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