CHENNAI: The former Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamurthy, on Friday stressed the need for a national debate on introducing electoral reforms, including fixing the retirement age for politicians to improve the quality of democracy in the country.

Speaking on `State of the Nation-Challenges and Changes in Electoral Democracy' here, he said that in some countries, dictatorship was developing owing to the unwillingness of leaders to give up power.

During the course of the `Chitra Narayanaswami Sathabishekam Commemoration Lecture,' Mr. Krishnamurthy said a debate on the introduction of retirement age for politicians would throw up many ideas.

He also called for discussions on finding alternatives to the "first-past-the-post system" in which even candidates who garnered 10 per cent of the votes polled were elected. Those elected under this system could not be called the representatives of the people.

Consider new systems

Despite the long history of the country's democracy, politicians had not really served the purpose for which they had been elected, he said, adding that this could be gauged from the quality of debate in the legislature.

The prevailing scenario only indicated that the first-past-the-post system, which had been the legacy of the colonial past, was no longer adequate for the country. The time had come to seriously consider systems such as proportional representation, adopted in other countries, against the backdrop of mushrooming of political parties that did not really represent the national interest.

Mr. Krishnamurthy said that the idea of allowing smaller parties rallying under national level combines on the condition that they do not leave the formation after the election could also be considered.

"Rotation system"

Another suggestion advanced by him was introduction of a "rotation system" for the poll of office bearers of political parties. He called for effective measures to ensure transparency in accounts and activities of parties. He stressed the need for absolute neutrality and impartiality on the part of civil servants.

He was of the view that though state funding of political parties for elections would not completely root out corruption, it might help some political parties to come forward to put up good candidates. Mr. Krishnamurthy said efforts must be made to improve voter turnout.

Though implementation of mandatory voting was difficult considering the size of the country's electorate, some incentives could be introduced as in Thailand. Adopting more technologies would enable the Election Commission to provide error-free electoral rolls, he said.

Chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan K.S. Bakthavatsalam presided.

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