India, March 19 -- The Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, has announced the 18th Lok Sabha election schedule, starting in April. He has identified four major problems that affect India's free and fair elections. These are the 4Ms: Muscle power, Money power, Misinformation, and violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). They are not new. During his campaign in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to end the criminalisation of politics and regulate the use of black money.

However, the question remains whether it is possible to prevent the improper use of the model code of conduct and control the use of money and muscle power.The Association for Democratic Reforms, an election watchdog, has found that several major Indian ...