Needed: Solutions for political finance

As the apex court has ruled, the electoral bond scheme was not appropriate

With the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing the poll schedule for the 18th Lok Sabha, the nation is gearing up to participate in the world’s largest democratic exercise by far. Amidst the focus on the upcoming elections over the coming weeks, two significant recent developments have provided citizens with ample food for thought about improving the country’s electoral and political process. The first is the Ram Nath Kovind committee report, which studied the feasibility of simultaneous elections. The second significant, and certainly more consequential, development is the Supreme Court judgment on the electoral bond issue.

The Kovind committee has unanimously