At an all-party meeting on electoral reforms held today in New Delhi, there was consensus on reducing the age limit of candidates for Lok Sabha and Assembly candidates from 25 to 21 years and for Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils' contestants from 30 to 25. The meeting also reached a consensus on State funding of elections and decided that the delimitation of constituencies should be deferred till 2001 AD. The meeting, chaired by Union Home Minister L K Advani, also decided to form a seven-member committee to give concrete shape to the proposals.

Announcing the decisions of the meeting at a press conference, Advani said that the committee will be headed by senior Parliamentarian and former home minister Indrajit Gupta and will include Manmohan Singh (Congress), Somnath Chaterjee (CPI-M), Serdappatti R Muthiah (AIADMK), Digvijay Singh (Samata Party), Madhukar Sarpotdar (Shiv Sena) and V K Malhotra(BJP). The committee will submit its report to the Government in August and its recommendations will be given legislative shape during the winter session of Parliament.

"At first," said Advani, "it was proposed that former FM Manmohan Singh should head the committee, but he suggested that some senior Parliamentarian should head it. The choice then fell on Indrajit Gupta, who was also a member of the electoral reforms committee constituted in 1971."

Advani said all the participants at the three-hour meeting agreed that it should be mandatory for political parties to maintain accounts. The committee would also examine the suggestion whether companies should be permitted to donate funds to political parties in view of state funding.

Advani said he personally felt that there should be a ban on companies' donations to political parties, but added, "It is for the committee to suggest measures." The committee, he said, would also make a recommendation regarding the fixing of a ceiling for election expenditureand whether expenditure incurred by a party should be included in poll expenses of candidates.

On question of delimitation of constituencies, Advani explained the meeting felt the exercise could be undertaken only after the 2001 census. This because "under Constitutional amendment in 1976, the delimitation of constituencies was frozen till 2000 AD."

The United Front Government moved the 80th amendment to the Constitution regarding delimitation of the constituencies last year, but could not get it passed due to Lok Sabha dissolution.