Venkaiah Naidu flags use of money in polls
He said a millionaire has better chances of becoming an MP or an MLA at the cost of the honest and deserving low-income Indians.
Hyderabad: Expressing serious concern over rising money power eroding the credibility of the country’s democratic polity, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu called for effective laws in quick time and simultaneous polls to check the menace.
Speaking at a conference, ‘Money Power in Politics’, organised by the Foundation for Democratic Reforms, Bharat Institute of Public Policy and the University of Hyderabad, in Hyderabad on Thursday Mr Naidu spoke on the causes and consequences of unbridled use of money by both the governments and political parties to lure the voters.
He said a millionaire has better chances of becoming an MP or an MLA at the cost of the honest and deserving low-income Indians. He referred to the assets of 475 members of the Lok Sabha out of 533 having declared assets in several crores.
He said: “Two glaring distortions need to be addressed by the political system with a sense of urgency and unity. The first is the use of enormous money power-often unaccounted for and illegal- in politics and elections. The second is the increasing attempts to entice the voters with short term benefits at the cost of long-term goals of ensuring amenities, infrastructure, quality education and healthcare and growth and job opportunities.”
Mr Naidu said unregulated higher election expenses fostered corruption and threatened the quality of governance through compromised policy-making and administration. It also undermined the fairness of the election process, he said.
Urging political parties not to shy away from being financially accountable, he said “I suggest Parliament should think of making a law for ensuring transparency in the polity through appropriate and actionable regulatory measures to make accounts of political parties public.”
He urged people to chose their representatives based on ‘character, conduct, calibre and capacity’ and not to be guided by ‘cash, caste, community and criminal prowess’ of the candidates.
BJP state president Dr K. Laxman said that as per the report of the Centre for Media Studies, during the 2019 general elections, candidates spent about `60,000 crore. The total expenditure was about $8.5 billion which is higher than the $6.5 billion spent on the US presidential elections in 2016.
Telangana state Planning Commission vice-chairman B. Vinod Kumar, a senior TRS leader, stated that economic factors played a key role in organisational management for parties, but that they should be sustained as part of the public service.
He said electoral expenses were heavier than party management and limited costs are good at one stage, but extreme costs are not optimal.
MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said, “I don’t think there is any way of running a political party transparently. Very soon a day will come wherein political parties would exist only on paper and individuals would be running the parties and individual agendas would be implemented.”
He said, “”If you have all MNCs and corporates sponsoring political parties, that is not the best way of running a political party. We need individuals contributing. We agree with them on having a national election fund, where in citizens would decide how this money should be used.