Winning elections at any cost 'new normal' in politics, says EC; Congress urges for election finance reforms

Winning elections at any cost new normal in politics, says EC; Congress urges for election finance reforms
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\"Democracy thrives when elections are free, fair and transparent. However, it appears to a cynical common man. We have been scripting narrative that places maximum premium on winning at all costs to the exclusion of ethical considerations.

The Election Commission in a scathing commentary on Indian politics has stated that winning the elections at all cost, without ethics, is a new normal.

"Democracy thrives when elections are free, fair and transparent. However, it appears to a cynical common man. We have been scripting narrative that places maximum premium on winning at all costs to the exclusion of ethical considerations. Winning the elections at all cost, without ethics, is new normal in politics," Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat said, while addressing a press conference on Thursday. The comments are significant in context of the fiasco which happened during by-poll in Tamil Nadu which was ultimately cancelled and the RS elections in Gujarat, where Congress MLAs switched sides before the elections and finally veteran leader Ahmed Patel managed to barely scrape through. There were allegations of large scale use of money power to influence the MLAs in Gujarat.

"In this narrative, the poaching of legislators is extolled as smart political management strategic introduction of money for allurement, tough-minded use of state machinery for intimidation - all commended as resourcefulness. It is this creeping new normal of political morality that should be a target for the exemplary action by all the political parties, politicians, media and civil society organisations, constitutional authorities and all those having faith in developing quality for a better election," said EC Om Prakash Rawat.

The elections watchdog's comments have come in the wake of the recent report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), according to which, the corporate houses donated a total of Rs. 956.77 crore to national parties between 2012-13 and 2015-16, making up 89 per cent of the total contribution from the known sources. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received the most corporate donations at more than Rs. 705 crore.

At least five political parties considered for the report were the BJP, Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM).

"Between 2012-13 and 2015-16, five national parties received a total of Rs. 1,070.68 crore via voluntary contributions above Rs. 20,000 out of which 89 per cent of Rs. 956.77 crore was from corporates/business houses," the ADR report said.

Congress calls for reforms:

A day after Election Commissioner (EC) O.P. Rawat said that winning the elections at all costs is the new normal, the Congress, backing the statement, suggested that the EC should initiate reforms regarding the electoral finance reforms. Speaking to ANI on the same, Congress leader Manish Tiwari further said that the laws made by the current government regarding the funding to political parties need to be looked into.

"The kind of laws which this government is enacting- making corporate donations anonymous through the process of bonds, removing the cap on the amount of their net profit, which a company can donate to an political party- are all retrogressive steps in their entirety," he said. He urged the EC to kick-start a debate in the country to look into the electoral finance reforms.

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