Former CEC draws attention to critical aspects of electoral processes

Former chief election commissioner of India Navin Chawla on Saturday posed several questions regarding the election processes in the country, ranging from conflict of interest to need for reforms.

Speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival here, Chawla said, "Our Parliament consists of extremely rich people. Many of them are industrialists and businessmen. They find themselves on parliamentary committees, exactly those places where there is conflict of interest. Are those people in the parliament, representing the voice of the people?"

Without taking any names, the former CEC said, "A current fugitive, now, was once put in the civil aviation ministry's parliamentary committee. The supposed rationale was that the man had domain expertise. We are on the way to becoming a rich and powerful Parliament, but one should ask if this is the voice of the people? he asked the audience.

He expressed concern over the use of money and muscle power in elections. After his responsibility as CEC was ..