Congress member of Parliament (MP) Manish Tewari on Saturday introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha seeking to equip the Election Commission of India (ECI) with the ability to regulate, monitor and superintend the internal functioning of all registered political parties in the country. “There remains a very serious infirmity in the functioning of India’s democratic model, and that is the functioning of political parties that underpin our democratic edifice. The internal functioning and structures of an overwhelming number of these political parties are very opaque and ossified. There is a need to make their functioning transparent, accountable and rule-based,” Tewari said. In September, the senior Congress leader who was a part of the ‘G-23’ group of dissenters, exited from the contest for the party president’s post. Termed the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2022, Tewari has described the bill as “the second wave of Democratic Reforms that India requires”. Failing to adhere to the directions with regard to the internal functioning of political parties, the bill would empower ECI to withdraw recognition as national or state …