The Election Commission of India should be fully empowered to hold the election to the Lok Sabha in one day, rather than in phases, said Freethought Party of India (FPI).
The Election Commission should never be prevailed upon to hold election in a staggered manner running into 7 phases and consuming 42 days of work, it said.
The FPI also demanded that exit polls by TV channels or media houses should also be banned as they have been doing a purposeless exercise.
The party also raised objections to political funding and mega rallies by leaders which are expensive.
“Had election to all the 543 Lok Sabha seats been conducted on April 11, no party leader would have got the chance to address 144 rallies as was done by PM Modi or 125 rallies as was addressed by Rahul Gandhi. It is quite clear that to provide greater leverage to the Prime Minister of the day, the Election Commission ordered a four-phase election in a small peaceful State like Odisha and seven-phase election in States of West Bengal, Bihar, UP, etc. This is nothing but corruption of the worst order,” said an FPI release.
The counting of votes in other matured democracies like the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan is happening almost soon after the completion of voting. This arrangement does not give any scope to anybody to indulge in the fruitless exercise of exit poll, it said.
The party also demanded that India adopt German brand of Mixed PR (Proportional Representation) system of election.