Two Congress representatives, Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha and former Union Minister Mukul Wasnik, argued that “majority aspirations” and the “actual will of the people” is not getting reflected in election results, sources said.

Mr. Tankha told the committee that the first-past-the-post system had worked well in the beginning because there was one-party domination (the Congress winning a plurality of the seats by securing close to a majority of the votes).

The voting percentage was also very high. But now because of a division of votes, a party with even a 20% share does not get a single seat, while a party with a 28% share an get a disproportionately large number of seats.

“Whoever gets elected does not truly represent the majority aspirations. And a true democracy cannot exit without reflection of the majority aspirations,” he reportedly told the Committee.

Mr. Tankha also suggested a dual system where separate votes for a candidate and a party could be considered. This system is followed by various European countries.

He argued that the proportional representation can be devised in different ways.

Echoing the argument, sources said Mr. Wasnik also said there was a need to devise a system which will ensure that the will of the people is reflected in a proper manner.

Parties excluded

From the CPI(M), Polit Bureau member S. Ramachandran Pillai pointed out that in the 2009 elections, the BJP had 18.1% votes but 116 seats in the Lok Sabha. While, in the previous elections, the Congress got 19.35% votes but only 44 seats. Parties together polling almost 50% of the votes were totally excluded. This fact has been repeatedly flagged by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

Mr. Pillai suggested that recommendations of the Law Commission’s 170th and 255th report should be implemented. A mix of both first-past-the-post and proportional representation should be tried. Both the reports had suggested that 25% or 136 more seats should be added to the Lok Sabha and be filled by proportional representation.

K. Narayana from the CPI said no ruling party had ever got 51% of the votes polled.