India needs two major election reforms - (a) abolish the first-past-the-post system and replace it with dual-member proportionate representation in legislatures; (b) a rotational federal system for people from diff regions to become PM, President, CJI, Lokpal, etc.
Easy to do both with some tweaks - (a) In each constituency, there shd be a party vote and a candidate vote. That will double the size of legislatures; one rep will be elected on transferable first preference among candidates, and state-wide party slates will fill the other spot.
(b) For government formation, two rules should apply. PM should be selected only by a subset of MPs from one region (North, south, west east) in each term, and cabinet should have equal numbers of members from each region.
This will also force parties to build a broader basis for support across a whole region, and slow down regionalism. National parties will continue to exist but even they will have to democratise to rotate power.
One other fix while we're at it. Since only MPs of one region will decide who shd head the government, MPs from other regions should be exempt from anti-defection law, and allowed free votes on all bills. This will separate the rules for confidence motions from routine lawmaking.
The rules matter. It is important to have a system for governance that is by design broadly representative, and inclusive, with elections then fought on ideas for development and the quality of governance. That's what a democracy is meant to be !!
