Date:01/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/01/stories/2007070154640400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Vatal Nagaraj seeks amendments to election laws

Special Correspondent

Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha plans campaign
It will include a convention of voters in August

Bangalore: The Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha has decided to launch a campaign demanding comprehensive amendment of the election laws to curb the increasing influence of money and muscle power in elections and to ensure that they are held in a free and fair manner. The campaign will also condemn the use of caste and religion to influence voting and demand that voting be made compulsory.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Saturday, Paksha president Vatal Nagaraj, MLA, said the party would hold a symbolic tamate (beating drums) protest in front of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Cubbon Park here on Tuesday as part of the campaign’s first phase. In the second phase in August, the party would organise a convention of voters to create public awareness on the issue. The third phase would include meetings with political leaders in Delhi, interaction with legal experts and intellectuals.

Mr. Nagaraj expressed concern that though there was a ceiling on poll expenditure, the clause was not being implemented strictly.

This had increased the role of money in elections. Such was the increasing influence of money that honest people could not dream of contesting.

Such a trend was detrimental to democracy. Legislatures and Parliament would be full of mine owners, liquor barons and crooks if the trend continued.

The recently held Chamundeshwari Assembly byelection was an indicator of the increasing influence of money in elections, he said.