Poll reforms in 3 months: Veerappa Moily

The existing ceiling on election expenses for various legislative bodies will be soon pushed high, Union minister for law M Veerappa Moily said on Sunday.

The recommendation made by the national commission to review the working of the constitution, 2001, to enhance existing ceiling on election expenses from Rs25 lakh to Rs40 lakh for a Lok Sabha seat and from Rs10 lakh to Rs16 lakh for an assembly will be cleared within a week, he said while speaking at the sixth regional consultation on electoral reforms at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

The law minister also said that a comprehensive amendment to electoral reforms will be brought in the next three or four months after the national review on the issue is held in Delhi on April 3 and 4.

The seventh and final consultation on the issue will be held at Guwahati.

Earlier consultations held in different parts of the country so far have thrown up two major bones of contention - role of criminals in electoral politics and the funding of elections, Moily said.

The minister said the UPA is determined to push through electoral reforms.

“We are consulting select MPs before the national meeting and we will also convene a meeting of the leaders of main parties before or after the April meeting so that the reforms take place with minimum resistance. We have to do this because election is the biggest source of corruption in India,” he said.