Pointing to the widespread corruption, nepotism, enticement and the use of money and muscle power in elections in India, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has held voters and politicians equally responsible for the spoiled election system in the country.
In an attempt to throw the blame on voters rather than politicians, he, at a point, even said that the former have forced the latter to become corrupt by accepting money for vote during elections.
“We have reached a point where none can contest and win elections without bribing voters in the form of money, liquor and material used to lure them [voters] and also using muscle power to threaten and influence them. You [voters] don’t say no when we [politicians] come to bribe you,” he said.
“You don’t say that your vote is not for sale. In a way, you are forcing us to indulge in corruption. If you are determined not to take money but vote for an honest candidate, there will be little room for us to bribe you,” Mr. Kageri said, while admitting that responsibility has to be fixed on politicians and other stakeholders for the increasingly deteriorating electoral system in the country.
He was addressing a public meeting organised for seeking public suggestions on electoral reforms at Rangamandir in Kalaburagi on Wednesday.
Citing instances of legislators skipping Assembly sessions on the pretext of attending ceremonies such as marriages and birthdays of their party workers or their supporters, Mr. Kageri said that such legislators don’t have the commitment to prioritising sessions over such functions and their supporters don’t have the sense not to force their leaders to skip legislature sessions to attend their functions.
“Both voters and politicians are equally responsible for India’s election system stooping so low now,” he said.
Jampacked auditorium
Though the meeting was exclusively meant for collecting public suggestions for electoral reforms, the Speaker spent more time on delivering his lengthy speech at the jampacked auditorium than seeking suggestions from the people.
In the two-hour programme, Mr. Kageri took more than one hour to speak on issues ranging from India’s outstanding performances and achievements in various sectors in the last 75 years after Independence to problems such as corruption, nepotism, impediments and apathy in the legislature, executive, judiciary and media.
He also blamed the common people and civil society groups for spoiling the system with their corrupt, lethargic and selfish tendencies.
When he finished his speech, he said that everyone in the auditorium cannot be given a chance to give his suggestion on electoral reforms owing to the paucity of time and asked those who did not get any chance to send their suggestions in a written form to his office at the Vidhana Soudha.
Even while he was seeking suggestions from the public, there were interruptions and interpretations leaving little time for the people to submit them.
Many participants who were deprived of an opportunity to make their point for electoral reforms were found to be visibly disappointed.
The suggestions, most of which were from students, collected in the meeting included allowing only one public gathering or rally by a candidate in a constituency during elections, reducing the voting age to 16 from 18, right to recall an elected representative who doesn’t deliver and right to recall a government that doesn’t fulfil the promises made during the election campaign.
Published - November 30, 2022 07:45 pm IST
