The following are the two institutional amendments made by different institutions to reform political parties and their leaders.
- Anti-defection law: The anti-defection law was passed to prevent elected MLAs and MPs from changing their parties. It was seen that many MLAs and MPs were changing their parties for personal gains. Now, according to the law, if any MLA or MP changes his/her party, his/her seat in the legislature will be lost. Also, MLAs and MPs have to accept whatever the party leaders decide.
- Affidavit: To reduce the influence of money and muscle power (criminals), an order has been passed by the Supreme Court making it mandatory for every candidate contesting election to file an affidavit giving details of his/her property and criminal records. This system has helped in making a lot of information available to the public. But, we cannot say that this amendment has been successful as it cannot be said that information provided by the candidates is true.
- Mandatory organisational meeting and filing of ITR: An order has been passed by the Election Commission making it mandatory for political parties to hold their organisational elections and file their income tax returns. The parties have started doing this, but sometimes it is only a formality. It is not clear if this step has brought some reform or not.
