POLL SYSTEM

Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has rightly suggested simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies, that too with a fixed five-year tenure because frequent elections harm development and progress. The objective can be achieved by making government-toppling difficult through secret voting on no-confidence motions filed only on the written demand of at least one-third of the members with compulsorily naming an alternative leader in the same motion. The PM and the CM might be elected by absolute majority through secret vote on nominations signed by at least one-third of the members with a ministry size restricted to a maximum of one-tenth of the strength of the House.

Polls to all State Assemblies might be held whenever elections to the Lok Sabha are held. Provision could be made for automatic extension or reduction of up to one-year in terms of State Assemblies whose terms are to expire a year before or after Lok Sabha elections are due. To avoid unnecessary by-elections, no person should be allowed to contest from more than one constituency or for both the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly. A sitting MP or MLA must lose his seat just on filing a nomination for another seat. Likewise, the appointment of an MP as a minister in the State must automatically snatch away his membership of Parliament and vice-versa!

The election cycle for the posts of the President and Vice-President may also be streamlined. The Lok Sabha can be chaired by a second Vice-President. The President and two Vice-Presidents could be simultaneously elected by all MPs and MLAs in the same manner as the President is elected.

The Senior Vice-President may be made the President in case of mid-term vacancy. In case of vacancy of Vice-President, an interim Vice-President may be elected by the MPs for the rest of the five-year term.

The upper age-limit may be fixed at 65 to contest direct elections to eliminate running politics like family-shops. Experienced persons if needed in the government could be made Rajya Sabha members where elections might continue to be held by secret vote. But the Constitution may be amended to abolish provision for Vidhan Parishads in States which serve no purpose other than to rehabilitate favourites of ruling politicians! Reservation for women for not less than 33 per cent must be implemented before the next general elections.

SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL
DELHI

Highlight Models

I have been a regular reader of your esteemed magazine for the last decade or so. Even then, I’ve not felt it necessary to air my views in your readers column as I found yours to be more or less of a complete magazine that was creatively satisfying.

But with the constant growth of the modelling industry and its presence being felt globally with events like Lakme Fashion Week, there is no denying the fact that Indian models are making their presence felt on the global stage.

While the likes of Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta, Yukta Mookhey, Priyanka Chopra and Aditi Govritikar have made a mark on the global modelling world with their larger-than-life presence, yet there are thousands of lesser known exciting and promising models who are doing good work but are rarely noticed because their work is rarely credited and they too don’t bother to get critical acclaim so long as they get paid for their job.

On the other hand, the video album industry is also flourishing since the last few years having created such hot idols like Shefali Zariwala (Kaanta Laaga) of DJ Doll or Meghna Naidu of Kaliyon Ka Chaman fame or Divya Khosla of Aiyyo Rama fame or Shyla Lopez of Aaja Piya Tujhe fame.

It would be great if your magazine could also focus on the modelling industry and provide promising male and female models and video album stars with a much needed regular platform where readers can get to know the real stars behind the glamour and the gloss while the models can also get good creative work by being noticed through the pages of The DayAfter.

Do give this a serious thought and try to present promising and struggling models who could be the pride of The DayAfter once they make it real big.

Deepti Bhatnagar
Mumbai