http://www.somethingaboutthelaw.com Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:27:11 +0000 en hourly 1 2006-2007 arunmohan.s@gmail.com (Something About The Law) arunmohan.s@gmail.com (Something About The Law) posts http://www.somethingaboutthelaw.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://www.somethingaboutthelaw.com 144 144 Musings Pertinent to Law and Society Something About The Law Something About The Law arunmohan.s@gmail.com no no http://www.somethingaboutthelaw.com/2009/05/07/the-economic-crisis-as-a-poll-plank-in-india/ http://www.somethingaboutthelaw.com/2009/05/07/the-economic-crisis-as-a-poll-plank-in-india/#comments Thu, 07 May 2009 17:02:54 +0000 Arun http://www.somethingaboutthelaw.com/?p=519

Twitter and the NREGA: A Case for Web 2.0 in India The screenshot’s from Serve.gov, a U.S State website that encourages...

Indo-U.S. Relations – A culture of solidarity? In his op-ed on Foreign Policy, Daniel Twining speaks on...

Obama’s AfPak Speech and India. Here’s a very interesting take on the India connection from...

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The Rhodes Scholarships Congratulations are due to Aditya, after he has been selected...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> http://www.somethingaboutthelaw.com/2009/01/12/interview-with-mr-jm-lyngdoh/feed/ 0 00:01:01 Arun and I had an exclusive interview with Mr. JM Lyngdoh (Former Election Commissioner) after his lecture at NALSAR. Below is the transcript of the ... Arun and I had an exclusive interview with Mr. JM Lyngdoh (Former Election Commissioner) after his lecture at NALSAR. Below is the transcript of the interview. The issues covered in this interview were; - Private Funding of Elections - Student Elections - The 49-O debate - Voting solutions and accommodations for the Middle Class - Elections in Chattisgarh The podcast of the interview may be downloaded here. Arun : My first question is with regard to the issue of private funding that you raised. Sir you had drawn a comparison with the United States perspective where in there would be private funding in election campaigns. Can you think of any particular evil of introducing it in India ? Mr. Lyngdoh : Let me make it quite clear. It is not private funding that is the greatest problem in the tracking of funding in India. The main source of funding in election campaigns is government funding and the stemming of it should be the main focus. This source of funding is highly objectionable; whether from a literal point of view or from a normal point of view. Arun : Would you then perhaps encourage corporate entities or industrialists in funding and having their say in financing election campaigns ? Mr. Lyngdoh : Believe me, the corporate sector is even more unreliable than the government when it comes to election campaigns. I don't want them to be a part of it. Arun : Sir, another question that I had was with regard to the recommendation by a Committee that you headed on the elections in universities and amongst student bodies. This is of particular interest to us and since we don't have time to go over each of those recommendations; what would you single out as the most important point in that Committee Report ? Mr. Lyngdoh : The most important recommendation that was violated by the Delhi University is that it was made very clear that 'direct elections' at the University level are suitable only for small universities like JNU and the like. They are not suitable for bigger universities and in bigger universities we recommended that indirect elections take place and direct elections don't make sense because you only have a few days of canvassing and if the Universities are too large you don't even have time to visit all the campuses and all. The net result is that you try to make up by spending as much money as possible and here is where the money comes in via intermediaries like the ABVP, political students unions and all. Arun : So the recommendations were primarily targeting finances and the intermediaries in student elections and bodies. Or was there some greater objective ? Mr. Lyngdoh : No, it is very clear that political parties have to be dissociated from student elections. Arun : So are you envisaging a situation where student elections happen irrespective of the backing of political parties ? Mr. Lyngdoh : Obviously you can't keep the influence of political parties away and it is going to be in the air. The air that we breathe and they are going to be there in the background. But they shouldn't be around when elections are going on; and they shouldn't be distributing money. Aditya : Sir, the third question is more specific in nature. It is said that the Code of Conduct Rules of 1969 have a certain provision Section 49-O giving the voter a right to choose 'None of the above'. ... (interrupted) Mr Lyngdoh : No No, you are not right there. This matter is yet to be decided and there has to be an amendment of the law to incorporate this kind of a provision. The Election Commission has made the recommendation but the parliament has not yet sat down and deliberated on it. Aditya : Assuming that this recommendation has been made but not yet incorporated; would you support such a provision ? Mr. Lyngdoh : Of course I would. The Election Commission was the first to recommend it. Aditya : At the start of your lecture, you vindicated the middle class for being a little over educated and not participating in the Uncategorized arunmohan.s@gmail.com no no