Government will introduce a comprehensive amendment to electoral reforms to eliminate the role of money and muscle power in elections.

Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said in Bangalore that the amendment will be brought about in the next three to four months after a national consultation on the issue. He said, the recommendation made by the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution, 2001, to enhance existing ceiling on election expenses for the various legislative bodies will be cleared within a week.

It proposed election expenses for a Lok Sabha seat to 40 lakh rupees from 25 lakh and 16 lakh rupees for an assembly seat from the existing 10 lakh rupees.

Addressing the Sixth Regional Consultation on Electoral Reforms, Mr Moily said, efforts will be made to eliminate criminals whose ultimate aim is to grab national power through financing political parties. He emphasised the need for sanitising the criminal justice system by ensuring that all corruption cases both at the state and the central level are tried within six months. He added that social auditing may also have to be included in the electoral reforms.

Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said, Curbing criminalisation of politics, which has been suggested by previous committees through enforcement of disclosure of criminal antecedents of candidates and eligibility restriction for candidates with criminal cases pending against them, has been opposed by every political party. He suggested that a criminal case filed prior to six months before an election should lead to disqualification of candidate. In addition, the Commission proposed that candidates found guilty by a Commission of Enquiry should stand disqualified.