870 Political Parties Vying For Power?

New Delhi, Dec 8 (UNI) As many as 818 unrecognised political parties, 46 State Parties and six National Parties are registered with the Election Commission, Parliament was told by Law and Justice Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj today.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Mr Bhardwaj said 173 unrecognised political parties contested the last Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2006 and 60 unrecognised parties contested the last Legislative Assembly elections held in Assam, Kerala, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

He said the process of reforms or changes of electoral laws and other related matters is a continuous and ongoing process and can be carried out only through consensus among political parties.

The government has no proposal ''under consideration'' to make voting right mandatory, Mr Bhardwaj said in reply to another question.

He said the issue has been considered by the Committee on Electoral Reforms, 1990 headed by Dinesh Goswami and also in the meeting of all political parties held in 1998.

But the measure was ''not accepted'' because of the practical difficulties involved in its implementation, Bhardwaj said.

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