Voicing concern over the "growing criminalisation" of politics, the Election Commission Wednesday said it has proposed certain electoral reforms as the existing legal provision were not adequate to reverse this trend.
"The commission is concerned about the growing criminalisation of politics and there is a need for electoral reforms for which certain proposals have been given to the government," Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon told reporters in Guwahati.
"Our suggestion is that any person against whom chargesheet has been filed and charges framed by the court should not be allowed to contest election," he said.
The commission, he said, had submitted as many as 44 proposals for electoral reforms to the present government in 2004 and "we have come to know that parliamentary committee has met a couple of times to discuss these proposals," Tandon said.
The CEC also expressed concern over reports that "government officials who sincerely work during the model code of conduct earned the ire of some political parties" and were subjected to harassment if the concerned parties formed government.
"This is also a matter of concern" and any government should refrain from such acts, Tandon said.