To enhance the quality of democracy in India the Election Commission of India has proposed electoral reforms in 2016. What are the suggested reforms and how far are they significant to make democracy successful?

Use it to argue that reforms securing the Commission's own independence are central to electoral reform and democratic quality.

• Other Election Commissioners can be removed only on the CEC's recommendation; the Law Commission's 255th Report (2015) recommended equal removal protection for all commissioners.
• The 2023 Act's selection committee gives the executive a 2:1 majority; a neutral collegium for appointments is a suggested reform.
• The law requires the Commission to act unanimously where possible, otherwise by majority; publishing dissent notes, after two ECs recorded 14 objections in 10 months, would build trust.

The RUPP story shows why giving the Election Commission a statutory power to de-register parties remains a needed electoral reform and what it would fix.

• In INC v. Institute of Social Welfare (2002), the Supreme Court held the EC has no general power to de-register a party registered under Section 29A of the RPA, 1951.
• The Law Commission's 255th Report recommended de-registering parties that do not contest for ten consecutive years; the EC instead delisted over 800 inactive RUPPs by October 2025.
• Of more than 2,800 RUPPs, only about 750 contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election, and ADR found 2022-23 annual reports public for only 26% of them.

The SIR and the Aadhaar linkage debate give a current electoral roll reform to assess, weighing cleaner rolls against exclusion of genuine voters.

• The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 lets electoral registration officers seek Aadhaar to establish identity, but no one can be excluded for inability to furnish it for sufficient cause.
• An op-ed puts SIR deletions since June 2025 at over 13 crore and argues voluntary Aadhaar face authentication would cut cost and burden on the poor, elderly, migrants and women.
• Risk to cite: under NERPAP (2015), linkage in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was reported to have removed about 30 lakh voters before the Supreme Court stopped it.

Use it to add roll accuracy and inclusion as a dimension of electoral reform, showing concrete corrective measures the Commission is now taking.

• In the 20 States and UTs where the SIR is complete, CEOs must compare pre-SIR and post-SIR rolls to identify deleted electors and may seek help from parties' booth-level agents.
• Booth Level Officers are to collect documents from voters' homes; in Maharashtra EROs must hold hearings and avoid hasty exclusions, with special camps on 3, 4, 10 and 11 October.
• In Goa, 97 eligible voters left off the final roll can return only via fresh Form 6, because ECINet could not reverse deletions even after ERO approval, a gap any digital reform must fix.

Use it to add a newer strand of electoral reform: the legal status of the vote and procedural safeguards against wrongful deletion from rolls.

• In Kuldip Nayar v. Union of India (2006) a Constitution Bench called voting a statutory right; PUCL v. Union of India (2013) treated casting a vote as expression under Article 19(1)(a).
• Supporters of making voting a fundamental right cite direct access to the Supreme Court under Article 32; critics say Article 326 already guarantees adult suffrage and the gap is implementation.
• Procedural reform: write notice, hearing and reasons for deletions into the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and independently audit software such as ECINet.