again debating ‘One Nation, One Election’ after the recent all party meeting. But what are the other important electoral reforms proposed by the Law Commission & Election Commission? Soon afterNarendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister for a second successive term, hechaired a meeting of the Presidents of all political parties. Among otherthings, ‘One Nation, One Election’ or the issue of simultaneous elections wasalso on the agenda. This has onceagain brought to the fore the discussion on the rationale of havingsimultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies. The All-partymeeting presided by the Prime Minister, the statement of the President in his address to Joint Session of the parliament , Centre setting up of a committee to study theproposal etc. are indicative of the Centre’s push in this direction. There arearguments both for and against ‘One Nation, One Election” from various sectionsof political spectrum and civil society. The Law Commission’s Draft report on simultaneous elections observes that while holding simultaneous elections isideal and desirable, a workable formula needs to be provided in the constitution. While theCentre positions this as a necessary Electoral reform, there are other electoralreforms, the discussion of which has taken a back seat. We discuss some otherimportant electoral reforms proposed by the Law Commission of India and theElection Commission previously. Law Commission & ECI’s proposed reforms The ElectionCommission of India (ECI), and the Law commission have over the years haveprovided proposals which could bring in much needed reforms in the electionprocess of the world largest democracy. The Law Commission of India’s report on Electoral Reforms in 2015 andreport published by the ECI in 2016 “Proposed Electoral Reforms”, have suggested various reforms. Here’s a snapshot of the key recommendations suggested by ECI and Law Commission of India. Date of Notification instead of Date of Nomination as start date for ceiling on expenditure.  As per section 77 of Representation of People Act , 1951 there is a ceiling on the expenditure of the candidate from the date of nomination to the date of declaring the results. However, most of the candidates have subverted the ruling by filing the nominations on the last day of filing. The amount spent by the candidates prior to the nomination forms a major chunk of the overall expenditure. Hence, a changeis recommended by the Law Commission of India where the ceiling needs to be placed from Date of election Notification to the Date of Declaring results. This would helpin having a ceiling on the total amount being spent through the process ofelection campaigning. The change also needs to be made in regard to the rulesaround the disclosure of the electoral expenditures, in tune with the change inthe date. Disclosure of all contribution amounts (subject to a cap of 20 Crores or 20% of total contribution to be Anonymous)  The Representation of People Act, 1951, Section 29 C lays out the current rules regarding the disclosure of contribution amounts. As per this, the political parties are required to report contributions which are in excess of Rs. 20,000. Furthermore, the transparency guidelines of ECI require all the cash transactions to be accounted for. Though there have been amendments that disallow any cash transactions of more than Rs. 2,000, the limit for reporting contributions hasn’t changed and remains at Rs. 20,000. It is also common knowledge that Political parties have a way around by showing multiple receipts of less than Rs. 2,000 and thereby avoiding any disclosure of the donors. The Association for Democratic Reform’s analysis says that only 43% ofparty funding is said to comprise donations from known sources (contributionsupwards of 20000, contributions from electoral trusts etc.) and nearly 53% ofthe funding sources are undisclosed for the year 2017-18, in the case ofnational parties. To avoid this evasion of disclosure, it is recommended that disclosure needs to be made of all the contributions. (Subject to cap of Rs. 20 Crore of 20% of total contribution – whichever is less, can be anonymous). But the implementation of this reform will not be possible without amending the rules for the recently introduced Electoral Bonds as these bonds provide a way for anonymous donations. Proportional representation instead of First-Past-The-Post System (FPTP) The current Electoral system followed in the elections to Lok Sabha and respective State Assemblies is the First-Past-The-Post System (FPTP). In this, each voter has a single vote which can be casted in favour of a candidate in the election.