The Dinesh Goswami Committee, formed in 1990, made recommendations on:

The Dinesh Goswami Committee was constituted in 1990 to recommend reforms in the electoral system of India.

About the committee:

It was set up by the V.P. Singh government.

It was headed by Dinesh Goswami, who was then the Union Law Minister.

It included representatives of various political parties.

Important recommendations:

• Constituencies should be delimited afresh on the basis of the latest census, with rotation of reserved constituencies for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• State funding of elections should be introduced in a limited way, in kind rather than cash, for recognised parties.
• The use of electronic voting machines should be encouraged.
• Strict action should be taken against booth capturing and intimidation of voters.
• The disqualification under the anti-defection law should be decided by the President or the Governor on the advice of the Election Commission, rather than by the Speaker.
• The model code of conduct should be given statutory backing in some form.

What was implemented:

• Some recommendations were accepted, such as measures against booth capturing.
• The Representation of the People Act was amended in 1996, partly on the basis of such recommendations.

Other committees on electoral reforms:

• The Tarkunde Committee (1974 to 1975) was set up by Jayaprakash Narayan.
• The Vohra Committee (1993) studied the criminalisation of politics.
• The Law Commission has also submitted reports on electoral reforms.

Why reforms were needed:

Problems such as the role of money and muscle power, criminalisation of politics and misuse of government machinery made reforms necessary.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Centre-State relations, judicial reforms and police reforms were studied by other commissions.