Citizens Election Watch
Want to be a part of the drive - “Clean Candidates- Better Governance”
The forthcoming Assembly elections have triggered off activities among the political parties. The political atmosphere is abuzz with a slew of promises from parties of every hue. But past experience tells us that such promises are hardly kept, nor remembered after the election. Money power and muscle power dominate the electoral process. Candidates are elected from constituencies where they have no stake. People are often led to discuss and debate over issues which are emotive and have little relevance to the actual state of affair of the common citizen, such as law and order situation, accountable and transparent governance, education, health, food, employment etc.
In addition to this, criminalization in politics is increasing in geometric proportions. Data shows that about 25% candidates from major political parties have criminal charges against them.
The Supreme Court judgments of May 2, 2002 (Civil Appeal 7178 of 2001 with W.P.(C ) 294 of 2001) and March 13, 2003 (Writ petition (Civil) Nos. 490,/2002, 509/2002, 515/2002) require all candidates to give a sworn affidavit to Returning Officers with their financial, educational and criminal background, if any, along with nomination papers. The Election Commission (EC) vide its order No. 3/ER/2004/J.S.II dated April 1, 2004 has directed Chief Electoral Officers of States and UTs to make these affidavits available to any citizen. The EC also puts up scanned copies of affidavits on its websites after the date of nominations and before date of polling.
These judgements give the voter the Fundamental Right to know the background of candidates who they are voting for so that they can choose better representatives who are accountable to the voter. The time has come now for citizen to stand up and take stock of the situation.
Citizens, eminent persons from Judiciary, Academia, Bureaucracy, Media, and Social workers from hundreds of NGOs have come together to demand better, cleaner candidates committed to public service.
This is an invitation to all citizens from these 5 States to participate in Citizen Election Watch by:
- Distributing affidavits of candidates to voters.
- Meeting Booth Level Officers (BLOs) of their polling booth and ensuring that their names are on the voter rolls.
- Meeting Election Observers (names also published in newspapers) when they visit your constituency and inform them about electoral malpractices, if any, in your area (distribution of money, liquor, clothes etc., and violence, threats).
- Volunteering your efforts at any of the contacts given below.
Information on BLOs, Observers, and copies of affidavit can be obtained from Returning Officer, DC/DM/Collector, EC website.
We invite you to participate in Uttarakhand Election Watch process, being jointly organized by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), New Delhi, www.adrindia.org and ERA (Experiments in Rural Advancement), Dehradun. www.erabharat.org
This is a part of similar efforts being carried out across the Country to inform voters and enthuse them to participate in the electoral process in a responsible manner.
Since 2002, Citizen Election Watches have been held in Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Kerala, and several Union Territories. As a result, level of criminalization has come down and those with criminal charges are being denied Ministerial positions in some States.
|
