Kolkata: Supporting Anna Hazare's movement for a strong Lokpal Bill, former chief election commissioner J M Lyngdoh on Friday advocated an independent body to handle corruption cases and said its jurisdiction should extend to the Prime Minister.
"We need a Anna Hazare kind of a system to handle corruption...Everyone, including the Prime Minister, should be brought under the jurisdiction of the anti-graft body. We need an independent body to decide whether they have done any wrong," he said at a panel discussion on 'Governance has lost relevance in today's India' here.
Calling for more autonomous bodies in the government, he said "if this is done, the government will function more effectively. For example, if the Police Commission is allowed to work independently, it can work much better. We need more independent bodies like the Supreme Court and High Courts."
However, if those in such autonomous bodies were found to be corrupt, they should be punished with a "heavy hand", Lyngdoh said.
The former CEC advocated a system of proportional representation to reduce the role of money in elections.
He said that under the system, voters would be asked to choose a party instead of the candidate and it would be represented in the body for which the elections are being held in keeping with the percentage of votes it has got.
"If this can be done, there will be much less need for money," he said.
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