JOIN USCEC keen on law to ban criminals from contesting
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the signing of an MoU between the ECI and Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy in Bangalore, Quraishi said the ECI endorsed the provision of the bill and hoped the Cabinet would adopt it in full.
The draft Decriminalisation of Politics Bill seeks to ban individuals formally charged by the court of law of offences punishable with jail term for five years or more, from electoral participation.
Inbuilt measures
Quraishi said the Bill had inbuilt measures to prevent its misuse as it specifies that the provision will not apply in cases where charges were framed less than six months before the date of elections.
ECI has been holding consultation meetings on electoral reforms, including the need for de-criminalisation of politics by preventing criminals from entering the corridors of power.
Quraishi also appreciated the role played by the civil society in initiating reforms.
He expressed his reservations about the low turnout of voters, especially in urban areas.
“If the electorate in metros do not exercise their franchise they have no business to crib about formation of government,” he said. Voters’ turnout in Bangalore during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections was a mere 43 per cent, he said.
The ECI has planned to launch a campaign to drive home its message that staying away from polls was “shameful and embarrassing”.
He said the ECI urged political parties to expedite the process of appointing the ‘booth-level agents’ to monitor the process of updating voter lists.
Quraishi appreciated the efforts of Janaagraha in cleansing the electoral list with the help of volunteers. The initiative taken up in Shantinagar Assembly constituency completed one year on Monday.
The project has tried to bring in accuracy in the voters’ list of the Assembly constituency. During the last one year, Janaagraha field staff mobilised 851 citizen volunteers.
Each volunteer took up the task of adding missing names and deleting obsolete entries in the voter lists through door-to-door campaign in their neighbourhoods.
So far, 44,128 forms have been submitted to the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer.
The project, on Monday, was extended for another three years.
‘Voters lists were in a mess in 2009’
The voter’s lists in the State were in such a mess ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, that there were even talks about postponing the polls, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi revealed on Monday.
“Karnataka was the biggest headache when it came to voter’s lists in 2009. It was such a mess that even postponing the polls was being considered”, Quraishi said at a function in Bangalore. Quraishi, in 2009, was one of the Election Commissioners.
“We wondered what had happened to the official machinery. We had to chase Deputy Commissioners to set the list right. The ECI had to make innumerable visits to the State. We managed, but a lot needs to be done”, he said.
He urged political parties, corporate bodies and civil society to participate in establishing a model framework for managing urban electoral process.