Political parties to march in Bengaluru for clean politics on Oct 2

by October 1, 2013 Governance
Lok Satta, Aam Aadmi Party and JD(U) have organised a walk on October 2 in Bangalore, from M G Road to Anand Rao Circle, demanding de-criminalisation of politics.

The Supreme Court recently barred criminals from contesting elections, and also ruled that convicted MLAs and MPs would lose their seats. Our politicians immediately tried to overturn this through an Ordinance, approved by the entire cabinet. The other parties, which are supposed to provide opposition to such dubious steps, also kept quiet because such moves benefit them too. But there is no doubt that this retrograde step will infinitely harm democracy in India. 

Speaking to the media at Bangalore Press Club, JD(U) State President M P Nadagouda said:  “On September 14 we held a conference on Electoral Reforms. After the conference a meeting was held under the chairmanship of Freedom Fighter H S Doreswamy and was agreed to continue the fight for this cause. As part of this continued fight, we have organised a Walk For Democracy on Gandhi Jayanthi day.”

LokSatta Party leader Ravi Krishna Reddy said: “The present system does not allow honest and clean politics. Unless the rules of the game are changed and rule of law applicable to all, the present system will not encourage True Democracy,  It is time all of us come together to fight this battle.

Siddarth Sharma of Aam Admi Party said the demands are:

  1. The laws of the country must not, under any circumstance, allow convicted persons to remain elected representatives.
  2. The Election Commission must be fully empowered to and held accountable to ensure that money power in elections is reduced progressively and eliminated.
  3. The Election Commission must be held accountable to ensure easy registration of voters, including in all colleges and through post offices, and that the voter rolls should be accurate, and continuoulsy updated, with penalties applicable for errors and deficiencies in registration.

Walk begins at Mahatma Gandhi statue on M.G Road at 9:30am and culminates at Gandhi statue in Anand Rao Circle. The route will be MG Road, Kasturba Road, Mallya Hospital, NR Circle, Mysore Bank and Anand Rao Circle.

“We request all citizens to join this march to demand political reforms and remind the world that the real tribute to Mahatma Gandhi is true democracy,” says a joint press release from all the three parties.

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About Srinivas Alavilli

Srinivas Alavilli is a citizen activist based in Bengaluru, working on a variety of issues. He is the co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru, and is currently Fellow at WRI India.
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