Elections in India have ceased to be free and fair, says A.P. former Special Chief Secretary

Former Special Chief Secretary P.V. Ramesh highlights weakening democracy in India, calls for electoral reforms to strengthen it.

Claiming that democracy in India is gradually weakening, Andhra Pradesh former Special Chief Secretary P.V. Ramesh has emphasised the need for electoral reforms.

“Elections have ceased to be free and fair as they are being vitiated by caste, religion, regional issues, money and inducements like liquor,” he observed while speaking at a media interaction organised by the Jana Chaitanya Vedika here on Wednesday (April 23, 2025).

“Of the nearly 200 countries, 151 are democracies but they are not participative as 75% of the people have no say in the systems of governance there. In India, political parties are behaving irresponsibly by announcing freebies in poll manifestos without considering their implications for the budgets of the respective governments, thereby garnering votes through enticements,” he said.  

He asserted that major political parties were fielding only wealthy candidates in the elections for obvious reasons, and those with criminal background were winning the elections. “This is nothing but a mockery of democracy,” he said. 

Mr. Ramesh stressed the need to adopt proportional representation as parties having less than 33% of the total votes polled were able to come to power, and warned of the consequences of the selection of Election Commissioners by the ruling party.

He suggested that President’s Rule be imposed three months before the elections to give a free hand to the Election Commission so that there would be no political interference in the conduct of elections. 

JCV State president V. Lakshman Reddy said the money power in elections had increased significantly in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. He pointed out that the Southern States might lose 30 Lok Sabha seats if the Central government went ahead with the delimitation of constituencies.