Chief election commission S.Y. Quraishi has said that candidates with criminal background should be disallow from contesting elections. He strongly advocated that free and fair voting will help in curbing corruption in the country.

Speaking on "Governance:The key to a developed India" at the annual general meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Quraishi said the poll panel had proposed some 20 election reforms, like barring of candidates with criminal records and auditing expense accounts of candidates and making these public.

He said that the bill related to these reforms is hanging fire in parliament and is expected to be taken up during the budget session. These electoral reforms were imperative to good governance that will help in curbing graft, he added.

Talking about the need for a video camera for the purpose he said that it always follows any candidate with criminal records. We keep an eye on him so that he doesn't use money or muscle power to influence voters.

He also shouted against the money power and said that if a candidate has invested Rs.10 crore (to win elections) and he becomes a minister, he is bound to extract that money from public funds and influence bureaucrats. This is where corrupt nexus between bureaucrats and politicians gets its roots. This (nexus) needs to be broken.

However Quarishi said that Indian elections were a lesson for the world, "something we can teach western nations".

(With inputs from IANS)