UPSC Mains 2017 GS2 Q14 — Electoral Reforms

• Contextualize the 2016 ECI proposal 'Proposed Electoral Reforms' and its primary objectives.
• Categorization of specific 2016 reforms (e.g., criminalization, funding, constitutional protection).
• Critical evaluation of how these reforms address systemic gaps like muscle power and money power.
• Assessment of implementation status and remaining hurdles that limit their significance.

• Writing about general electoral reforms (like VVPAT or EVMs) without specifically citing the 2016 ECI proposal document.
• Ignoring the 'significance' aspect and merely listing the reforms like a dry memorandum.
• Failing to link reforms to the 'quality of democracy'—e.g., not explaining how banning anonymous donations improves transparency.
• Overlooking the specific proposal regarding the constitutional protection of Election Commissioners (bringing them on par with the CEC).

Allocate roughly 5 marks to identifying 5-6 core 2016 reforms such as lowering anonymous donation limits to ₹2000 and de-registering inactive parties. The remaining 10 marks should be spent on a critical analysis of their significance in deepening democratic values, while acknowledging that many remain pending legislative action.