The Law Commission 255th Report was titled Electoral Reforms. It was submitted in March 2015 by the 20th Law Commission, chaired by Justice A. P. Shah.
The report suggested wide-ranging reforms to make Indian elections more transparent, fair and accountable. It focused mainly on political finance, candidate disclosure, paid news, opinion polls, electoral offences, inner-party democracy and strengthening the Election Commission.
The report came after the Ministry of Law and Justice asked the Law Commission to examine electoral reforms in detail. The Supreme Court had also asked the Commission to suggest reforms on criminalisation of politics and false affidavits in the Public Interest Foundation case. The Law Commission submitted Report No. 255 after stakeholder consultations with political parties and experts.
Background
Electoral reforms became important because Indian elections were facing problems of money power, criminalisation, paid news, lack of transparency in political funding and weak regulation of political parties.
Earlier, the Law Commission had also submitted important reports on electoral reforms, especially:
• 170th Report, 1999: Reform of Electoral Laws
• 244th Report, 2014: Electoral Disqualifications
• 255th Report, 2015: Electoral Reforms
The 255th Report was broader than the 244th Report. While the 244th Report focused mainly on criminalisation of politics and false affidavits, the 255th Report examined electoral reforms more comprehensively.
Major Recommendations
The report made recommendations on several areas of election law and electoral governance.
Important areas included:
• Election finance reform
• Regulation of political party funding
• Disclosure of candidate expenditure
• Paid news
• Opinion polls
• Internal democracy in political parties
• Strengthening the Election Commission
• Independent candidates
• Electoral offences
• Anti-defection law
• Election petitions
• NOTA
• Compulsory voting
• Right to recall
The report did not treat elections only as polling-day events. It examined the entire electoral ecosystem: funding, campaigning, party functioning, candidate disclosure, media influence and institutional independence.
Election Finance Reform
Election finance was one of the most important parts of the report.
The Law Commission noted that money power affects the fairness of elections. If political funding is opaque, voters cannot know who is financing parties and candidates. This weakens transparency and increases the risk of quid pro quo politics.
The report recommended stronger disclosure norms for political parties and candidates.
Key recommendations included:
• Greater transparency in political donations
• Disclosure of all donations above a lower threshold
• Stronger reporting of party finances
• Auditing of party accounts
• More powers to the Election Commission to check financial irregularities
• Regulation of candidate and party expenditure
• Clearer rules for political advertisements
The report also discussed state funding of elections but did not support full state funding unless political parties first became more transparent and internally democratic.
Political Parties
The report recognised that political parties are central to Indian democracy but remain weakly regulated.
It recommended stronger legal regulation of political parties, especially in areas of internal democracy, transparency and financial accountability.
Important suggestions included:
• Mandatory internal elections in political parties
• Transparent candidate selection process
• Regular disclosure of party accounts
• Stronger auditing norms
• Penalties for non-compliance
• Greater powers to the Election Commission over registered parties
This was important because Indian election law regulates candidates and elections in detail, but political parties themselves have often remained outside strong legal scrutiny.
Paid News and Media
The report gave attention to paid news because it distorts voter choice.
Paid news means political advertising presented as independent news. It misleads voters because they may not realise that the content is sponsored.
The Law Commission recommended that paid news should be treated as an electoral offence.
It also suggested stronger disclosure of political advertisements and clearer regulation of media-related campaign expenditure.
This issue remains relevant because political communication has now expanded from print and television to social media, influencer campaigns and digital advertisements.
Opinion Polls and Exit Polls
The report examined the impact of opinion polls and exit polls on elections.
It noted that polls can influence voter behaviour, especially if they are manipulated, poorly designed or used as propaganda.
The report recommended regulation of opinion polls, including disclosure of methodology, sample size, sponsor and margin of error.
The purpose was not to ban all polling, but to make polling transparent and prevent misuse during elections.
Election Commission
The report supported strengthening the Election Commission of India.
It recommended that the appointment process of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners should be made more independent and broad-based.
This concern became even more relevant later in the Anoop Baranwal judgment, 2023, where the Supreme Court directed an interim appointment mechanism involving the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India until Parliament made a law.
The report also suggested that the Election Commission should have greater power to deregister political parties in appropriate cases, especially where parties violate legal requirements or become inactive.
Criminalisation and False Affidavits
The 255th Report built on the earlier 244th Report on electoral disqualifications.
The Law Commission was concerned that candidates with serious criminal charges were entering legislatures. It recommended disqualification at the stage of framing of charges for certain serious offences, subject to safeguards.
It also recommended stronger consequences for filing false affidavits.
Candidate affidavits are important because voters need information about:
• Criminal cases
• Assets and liabilities
• Educational qualifications
• Sources of income
If candidates file false information, it directly affects the voter’s right to make an informed choice.
Anti-Defection Law
The report also commented on the anti-defection law.
It recommended that the power to decide disqualification under the Tenth Schedule should be shifted from the Speaker or Chairman to the President or Governor, acting on the advice of the Election Commission.
This was meant to reduce partisan bias because Speakers are often members of political parties.
This recommendation is similar to earlier reform suggestions by the Dinesh Goswami Committee.
Election Petitions
The report noted that election petitions often take too long to resolve. If a petition is decided after most of the legislative term is over, the remedy becomes ineffective.
It recommended faster disposal of election petitions and strengthening of mechanisms for timely adjudication.
This is important because delayed election justice weakens accountability.
Importance
The 255th Report is important because it provided a comprehensive reform blueprint for Indian elections.
Its importance lies in:
• Addressing money power in elections
• Demanding transparency in political funding
• Recognising paid news as a threat
• Strengthening the Election Commission
• Improving candidate disclosure
• Regulating political parties
• Dealing with criminalisation of politics
• Supporting faster election dispute resolution
The report remains relevant because many of the problems it identified continue today in different forms, especially opaque funding, digital campaigning, criminalisation and weak internal democracy in parties.
Limitations
Many recommendations of the report have not been fully implemented.
Political finance remains a major concern. Electoral bonds, corporate donations, anonymous funding and campaign expenditure have continued to raise debates about transparency.
The recommendation to regulate internal democracy within political parties has also seen limited progress.
Major limitations include:
• Partial implementation
• Political resistance to party regulation
• Continued opacity in political funding
• Weak enforcement of expenditure limits
• Paid news and digital propaganda remain difficult to monitor
• Delays in election petitions continue
• Election Commission’s appointment process remains controversial
This shows that electoral reform is not merely a legal issue. It requires political will, institutional independence and public pressure.
Relevance
The 255th Report is directly relevant to debates on free and fair elections, political funding, Election Commission independence and criminalisation of politics.
It should be studied along with the Tarkunde Committee, Dinesh Goswami Committee, Indrajit Gupta Committee, 170th Law Commission Report, 244th Law Commission Report, Anoop Baranwal judgment and the CEC & EC Appointment Act, 2023.
Conclusion
The Law Commission’s 255th Report remains one of the most important documents on electoral reforms in India. Its central message was that free and fair elections require transparency in funding, stronger regulation of parties, independent election management and timely electoral justice.
