Bypolls in India should be banned. A By-poll (occasionally also spelled ‘bye-election’, and known in the United States as a special election) is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections.

Our politicians give up with elected seat with absolutely no respect to the voters who voted them in. In Dec 2008 Karnataka held bypolls as many sitting MLAs from Congress switched over to BJP (Operation Lotus). Rumours said the bypoll costed each candidate about Rs 25 crore. The Election Commission (EC) allows you to spend Rs 25 lakh officially. It is high time EC increases the official budget to Rs 25 crore directly.

India will hold its General Election in Apr/May 2009. Reports say candidates in popular constituencies will need to spend a whopping Rs 50 crore.

EC should ban bypoll. If a candidate surrenders his/her seat then the runner up should be declared the winner provided the winner doesn’t join the party to which the runner up belongs to. To explain it in clear terms, if Congress had won the seat and BJP candidate was the runner up, then the BJP candidate can be declared the winner provided the victorious candidate (Congress) is not joining BJP.

EC should not allow candidates standing from multiple constituencies. If they win from both constituencies then a bypoll needs to held in one at govt’s expense. If the EC cannot enforce this rule, the runner up of the seat they are surrendering should be declared the winner. This way candidates will think twice before standing from multiple constituencies.

We see few sitting MLAs contesting for a MP seat (or vice versa). If they win, then they will surrender the MLA seat. Preferably the EC shouldn’t allow a sitting MLA to contest for a MP seat. If they cannot enforce this rule, the runner up of the seat they are surrendering should be declared the winner.

In India, you need to be an elected member (MP – from Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha) to be a cabinet minister. In the US it is contrary, a sitting Senate Member is not in the cabinet.

After Hillary Clinton was sworn in as the Secretary of State in Obama’s cabinet her Senate seat (New York) fell vacant. The New York Governor, David Paterson, had the power to select the replacement of Hillary Clinton. So, if we had this rule in India, the Governor of the state in which the seat fell vacant, would have had the power to choose the replacement of the MP.

First published in Oneindia.in

hi ,

this is ajay , an indian citizen and a resident of mumbai who is also fed to the teeth with the nonsense going on in the media with respect to CM election and the no-action or inaction on our part to any nonsense that goes on in our land whether it is bad roads , terrorist attacks ,  flooding etc

common man is bearing the brunt of everything and we are also ensuring that this thing continues on live tv.

we need to put an end to this and look ahead and hence i suggest a 7 point program which should be taken up asap – as initial steps for a better india.

action points which should be done asap
(1) reelection of entire parliament – based on entrance exams , qualification , gd  – discussion of issues , at least 5 years of social service record and retirement age of 60 . everyone who is currently above 60 should be sent on permanant tirth-yatra.

(2) free and compulsory education for all upto ssc – if someone does not educate his/her child – the bread winner will have to pay a fine – maybe 1000rs a year – so some such value.

(3) police should be given min salary of 30 for new joinees and 50k after 2 years of service , senior officers should get min 1 lakh as salary and free insurance policy , free housing and education for kids and latest equipment – along the lines of isreali police and vehicle for travel. they must get 3 paid leaves a year with family of 1 week each. in case anyone is caught taking a bribe he should be hanged in public or be in jail for life.

(4) armed forces – should be given min salary of 50k- entry level and going upto 2 lakhs for a senior officer who has completed 2 years service apart from benifits mentioned above. same punishment if caught in any offence. latest equipment should be made available along the lines of isreali armed forces.

(5) election should be made online or by sms and in case of villages it should be done by officers who will go house to house to take votes – this elimitaes booth capturing as there are no booths
and anyone caught doing anything wrong should be put in jail for min 10 years plus 5 lakh fine.

(6) every city should have a rapid action force ready in air , land and sea – who have shoot to kill order ready.
all armed forces , police and rapid action force will not be controlled by policians. they will be independant bodies who will have their own CEO type structure as we have in multinational organisations- who will be accountable for every damn thing they do .
so a police can shoot a politician if he finds him a threat !!!.

(7) citizens need to talk to the new policians – face to face -  every 2-3 months and take stock of the situation – like a team meeting. if any politician is found to be not ok should be changed asap – then and there.

and the most important thing is for the media to understand that they should not give forum to terrorists like musharraf – who is responsible for killing 2000+ indian lives in kargil and still …. to this day indian media is giving him the forum to talk against our country .