Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri said the Election Commission of India should take positive steps for bringing in electoral reforms to contain caste, muscle, money power and defections instead of confining itself to conducting elections to State legislatures and the Parliament.
Addressing a media conference in Bengaluru, Mr. Kageri noted declining ethical values in the democratic setup and said the tendency to blame politicians for a decline in democratic values in India should stop. Several senior leaders in different fields, who exercised power at different times, should break their silence and speak about the necessity of electoral reforms, he said.
Besides three organs of the government, the Speaker said the media and writers too should come out openly in support of electoral reforms to check malpractice in elections and in the political system.
In the current political scenario, there are growing concerns among the people that the country’s elected rulers have been deviating from the principles of democracy that were enshrined in the Constitution. In this context, he urged the Election Commission to take responsibility of introducing reforms to ensure transparency in the conduct of elections.
The Speaker called for intensive discussions and debates to overcome challenges faced by democracy and the electoral system.
