LYNGDOH'S SUGGESTIONS

M.S.Lyngdoh , the former Chief Election Commissioner has come up with two suggestions regarding electoral reforms. Firstly , he suggests that 50% of the seats be decided on the basis of proportional representation and in the remaining seats there should be a refrendum like second round of voting among the two candidates who poll the highest votes in the first round. His plea is that this will ensure a minimum representation for all sections of the society and also preclude the present state wherein many candidates get elected by polling as low as 20 % vo tes in a multipronged contest . My take on it is that the first idea is not tenable since it'll further divide our already fractured society( Mahatma Gandhi had opposed a similar idea of Ambedkar in having seperate constituencies for the scheduled castes on the same basis ; instead we settled for reserved constituencies ) ; as for the second idea- it is an interesting one - in my view , it could be tried out in all those constituencies where the winning candidate polls less than 33% votes.