WUNRN
NEW DELHI (TrustLaw) 20 June
2011 - India's law ministry wants the government to fund women candidates
during polls, saying it will help keep a check on election funding and provide
an incentive for them to join politics, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday.
Law Minister Veerappa Moily has
proposed that female political candidates, and those from other marginalised
groups like tribals and lower castes, from recognised political parties receive
state funds for their campaigns, said the daily. It did not specify the amount
that could be given.
"This proposal, applicable
to the recognised national and state-level political parties, will bring
transparency and put a check on the inflow of unaccounted money into
elections," the Hindustan Times quoted a circular from the law ministry as
saying. Election funding is a contentious issue in
Despite legislation curbing the
amount political parties can spend on campaigning, laws are widely flouted,
with parties spending well over the limit.
The newspaper said the law
ministry proposed the government fund candidates who had a maximum annual
income of less than 500,000 rupees ($11,128).
The income and assets would
also include those of the candidates' spouses, dealing with concerns of how
male politicians often field their wives for polls, pouring hundreds of
thousands of rupees into their campaigns without declaring this money in their
annual accounts.
The law ministry said this
proposal, if accepted, would be an incentive to political parties to put
forward candidates who are women, tribals and lower castes – all of whom are
poorly represented in the political arena of the world's largest democracy.