The system of Lokayukta was introduced in India through a bill in1968. This institution is an anti corruption buero who’s main purpose is curb corruption among the politicians and government officials. The role of Lokayukta, the authority appointed under the Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta Act, 1971 is very wide. The authority has got the power to investigate the matter before it but, no power to punish. Reports of the Lokayukta only recommendatory. The author here has concluded the article with the recommendation that to have corrupt free nation, transparency in administration certain measures have to adopted.
India is a democratic country where people have right to elect their representatives of their respective State legislatures and the members of parliament by casting their votes. People have faith in their representatives but some elected members are having criminal backgrounds which defeat the actual purpose of representation of the members for the people’s welfare. In order to overcome from this hurdle the parliament enacted Representation of People’s Act 1951 which prescribes some disqualifications to the candidates but those are not satisfactory. This paper focuses on impact of criminalization in Indian politics ends with recommendations for improving the situation and the role of general public.
Elections are one of the basic elements in ensuring democracy because they “facilitate citizen’s participation in governance, ensure government accountability and encourage political competition”. The free, fair and credible election is one of the basic and crucial prerequisites and elements of democratic government and governance. The election would be credible, when rules, regulations and laws governing the electoral process will be followed by ultimately, the credible candidates will be freely and fairly elected represent the electorate. According to Diamond free and fair elections have major four components. They are: (i) Independent political parties will compete in electoral process in freely and fairly; (ii) Individual voter must be free to participate in politics and election process based on their will and wish; (iii) Election process would be transparent and every adult franchise can apply their voting right without any discrimination and (iv) Finally, outcome of the election or counting vote would be accurate and legitimate. Thus, when all four variables mentioned above will be available in the process, conduct and outcome of an election, that election could be considered to be free, fair and credible. Constitution of India provides for periodic elections, which ensure democratic transfer of political power from one set of representatives to other. The election commission of India independent and non-partisan body supervises directs and controls elections in India. Elections commission did great job in ensuring free and fair elections so far yet, there is need to adopt certain electoral reforms for sustainable democracy.
Transparency in governance refers to the absence of secrecy and mystery between the Government and those being governed. It implies that the Government shares as much information with the citizenry as possible. The information shared should not be ambiguous or selective, but complete and correct. A transparent Government does not just inform the people about decisions that affect them, but also lets them know the grounds on which such decisions have been taken. Transparency also implies that all rules and regulations regarding the functioning of the various arms of the government and the powers and duties of its officers are in the public domain. While transparency offers great advantages to the people, it also has many benefits for the Government. For one, people have much greater sense of trust in governments they deem to be transparent and they are more likely to understand if the country is placed in a difficult situation. The two most important recent developments regarding transparency in governance in India have been the passing of the Right to information Act and the emergence of the concept of e-Governance. The passage of the Right to information act in 2005 has been a truly revolutionary event, in the sense that it has empowered citizens to seek information on all public matters without asking for justification, sets a time-frame within which officials must provide information, and also provides for punishments for those officers who wrongfully, or with mal-intent, deny information to the public.
