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Bhanwarlal calls for ethical, informed voting
Bhanwarlal calls for ethical, informed voting, General and Assembly elections. Responding to the suggestion, Bhanwarlal said, “Every candidate usually submits an affidavit giving details of fixed assets.
• EC mulling to publish candidates’ profiles
• Asks electorate to exercise the franchise without fail
• Cautions against enticement by political parties
• As wrong elected member can abuse the office
• Electorate has to choose between good and bad; not voting amounts to stupidity
• Rural people more aware than those in urban cities
Hyderabad: The Election Commission (EC) is toying with the idea of publishing the gist of contesting candidates’ profiles from the next General and Assembly elections. Disclosing this at an interactive programme organised by Keshav Memorial Educational Institutions and Prakasham Institute of Development Studies on the occasion of National Voters’ Day here on Saturday, Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal said the Commission was now working out the modalities on it.
Santosha Lakshmi, a student of journalism, questioned him as to how the voters could come to know about the merits and demerits of a candidate contesting in the polls. She even suggested that a database consisting of profiles of all contestants in a constituency could be made public.
Responding to the suggestion, Bhanwarlal said, “Every candidate usually submits an affidavit giving details of fixed assets, cash and kind, the criminal cases if any etc. while filing nomination papers. Within 24 hours of filing the nomination, the details will be uploaded to the Commission’s website. The Commission is now making plans to publish the gist in the newspapers. We will come out shortly on the issue.”
Advising the students to exercise their franchise without fail and elect candidates with clean image, the CEO cautioned the youngsters that criminals, who enter into the legislative bodies, would make laws detrimental to the interests of the people.
“If you do not vote it would pave way for the undeserving lot getting elected and they would debase the office. If you do not vote it amounts to stupidity. Remember, if you sit idly on the day of voting you will lose a chance for electing the right person to represent you for the next five years. So, do vote on the polling day, vote in a free and fair manner,” he suggested.
Cautioning the youngsters not to fall prey to the enticement of political parties in their manifestos, Bhanwarlal warned, “You have to choose between the good and bad. Do not get deluded to their offers and words. You cannot question their acts when they got elected if you accept their bribes.”
He said that rural voters were more familiar with the EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) than those in the urban areas. He cited last year’s bypolls for 17 Assembly seats where the poll percentage of two urban seats - Tirupati and Anantapur - was just 52 per cent, whereas, that of Polavaram, a remote tribal constituency, it was 88 per cent. Dr CGK Murthy, chairman of Prakasham Institute of Development Studies - Trust, T Harihara Sharma, correspondent of Keshav Memorial Educational Society, and K Ramachandra Murthy, Editor-in-Chief of HMTV and The Hans India, also participated in the programme.
