Elucidate Some of the Recent Efforts Taken in Our Country to Reform Political Parties and Its Leaders.

Some efforts taken in our country to reform political parties and its leaders are:

• The Constitution was amended to prevent elected MLA’s and MP’s from changing parties. This was done because many elected representatives were indulging in defection in order to become ministers or for cash rewards. Now, if any MLA or MP changes parties, he or she will lose the seat in the legislature.
• The Supreme Court passed an order to reduce the influence of money and criminals. Now, it is mandatory for every candidate who contests elections to file an affidavit giving details of his property and criminal cases pending against him. The new system has made a lot of information available to the public. But there is no system of check, if the information given by the candidates is true.
• The Election Commission passed an order making it necessary for political parties to hold their organizational elections and file their income tax returns.
• The parties have started doing so but sometimes it is mere formality. It is not clear if this step has led to greater internal democracy in political parties.