Check Ministers

it is regrettable that ministers who draw salary, perks and other expenses from the public exchequer also hold party posts and spend most of their time indulging in petty party politics. All this adversely affects government functioning.

In public interest, there should be a total ban on ministers accepting any party post. A minister must be asked to resign before filing a nomination for a party post. Such a system will eliminate unwanted party infighting as in the Janata Dal where Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav is desperate to retain the Janata Dal presidentship.

The Election Commission should also issue fresh guidelines to avoid wastage of public funds on frequent elections which are caused only by the selfish acts of some politicians. Since a person can neither represent two constituencies nor be a member of both Parliament and State Legislature at a time, no person should be allowed to contest from more than one constituency or for both Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. Rather a sitting MP or MLA must resign from his/her earlier seat before filing nomination for the other seat. To avoid the unhealthy practice of family-rule in politics, there should be upper age limit of, say, 65 years for contesting direct elections. However intellectuals like retired officers, educationists, judges etc. may be exempted from such an upper age limit.

 

Experienced politicians if needed in government can be made members of Rajya Sabha. However, the State Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishads) must be abolished in all states.