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3.1.1. On a consideration of the various views expressed
in the four seminars aforesaid and the vast number of
responses received by us, we have come to the conclusion
that for successful implementation of any of the aforesaid
proposals, or for that matter for bringing a sense of
discipline and order into the working of our political
system and in the conduct of elections, it is necessary to
provide by law for the formation, functioning, income and
expenditure and the internal working of the recognised
political parties both at the national and State level.
The necessity of such a requirement was stressed by Shri
S.Jaipal Reddy, MP (a former Minister for Information and
Broadcasting), by Shri Manjit Singh Khera (representing
SAD), by Dr. N.L. Mitra, Director, National Law School of
India University, and several other participants in the
seminars held by the law Commission. To the same effect
was the view expressed by Shri Santosh Sharma, IAS (retd.)
and president of "People First". As pointed out in chapter
four of Part one, the German Constitution, which was
enacted practically at the same time as our Constitution,
expressly provides for formation and functioning of the
political parties. Article 21 which has been set out in
the said chapter says that the political parties shall help
form the political will of the people, that political
parties can be freely established and that their internal
organisation shall conform to democratic principles. It
further says that the political parties should publicly
account for the sources and use of their funds and for
their assets. Article 21 further provides that political
parties which by reason of their aims or the conduct of
their adherents seek to impair or do away with the free
democratic basic order or threaten the existence of the
Federal Republic of Germany shall be unconstitutional and
that the Federal Constitutional Court shall rule upon the
question of unconstitutionality. Clause (3) of Article 21
provides that the details in this behalf shall be provided
by federal laws. Accordingly, on 24th July 1967, the law
on Political Parties was enacted. We have already referred
to the relevant provisions of this Law in chapter four of
Part One.
3.1.1.1. Shri Rajni Kothari while dealing with
powers of internal democracy in the Congress Party, said
this:
"The `Congress system' has to learn to bear more
strains and deal with more problems but it has also
to become more of a `system' than it at present is.
After March, 1967, it will need to consider
further steps towards its own institutionalisation
in the resolution of disputes, in the conduct of
internal elections, in organising party
intelligence and research, in policy-decison
making, in the party's own federal relations, in
party-government communications, and above all in
regard to the whole process of selection of
candidates for different types of elections and
especially for the General Elections." (Centre for
the Study of Developing Societies, Context of
Electoral Change in India, General Elections, 1967,
page3).
3.1.2. With a view to introduce and ensure internal
democracy in the functioning of political parties, to make
their working transparent and open and to ensure that the
political parties become effective instruments of achieving
the constitutional goals set out in the Preamble and Parts
III and IV of the Constitution of India, it is necessary to
regulate by law their formation and functioning. In this
connection, reference can be had to the law laid down in
the nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in
S.R.Bommai v. Union of India (1994 (3) SCC1). Explaining
the concept of secularism implicit in the constitutional
provisions, the Court made the following observations at
page 236:
"Inspired by the Indian tradition of tolerance and
fraternity, for whose sake, the greatest son of
Modern India, Mahatma Gandhi, laid down his life
and seeking to redeem the promise of religious
neutrality held forth by the Congress Party, the
Founding Fathers proceeded to create a State,
secular in its outlook and egalitarian in its
action... if any party or organisation seeks to
fight the elections on the basis of plank which has
the proximate effect of eroding the secular
philosophy of the Constitution it would certainly
be guilty of following an unconstitutional course
of action.... if the Constitution requires the
State to be secular in thought and action, the same
requirement attaches to political parties as well."
3.1.2.1. On the parity of the above reasoning, it
must be said that if democracy and accountability
constitute the core of our constitutional system, the same
concepts must also apply to and bind the political parties
which are integral to parliamentary democracy. It is the
political parties that form the government, man the
Parliament and run the governance of the country. It is
therefore, necessary to introduce internal democracy,
financial transparency and accountability in the working of
the political parties. A political party which does not
respect democratic principles in its internal working
cannot be exposed to respect those principles in the
governance of the country. It cannot be dictatorship
internally and democratic in its functioning outside.
3.1.3. Conclusion.- Keeping the aforesaid considerations
in mind, we recommend that a new part, Part II-A, entitled
`Organisation of Political Parties and matters incidental
thereto' be introduced/inserted in the Act, containing the
undermentioned sections:
3.1.3.1. In view of reiteration of our proposal to
repeal section 11 and 11B of the Representation of People
Act, 1951 as stated under paragraphs 6.1.1 and 6.2 of part
VI infra, the existing section 11-A entitled "Disqualifications arising out of conviction and corrupt
practices" which will fall under Chapter IV, shall be
renumbered as Section 11. Consequently, the following
sections proposed to be inserted under part II-A shall be
numbered as Section 11-A to 11-H.
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