Setting the tempo for a two-day debate in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on the need for poll reforms, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri on Monday called for election reforms to prevent deterioration of democracy.
Delivering a key-note address in the Assembly, Mr. Kageri observed that polls were becoming money mandate rather than public mandate as the spendings had reached a vulgar level.
“Of late, the polls are fought on the basis of money, caste, and muscle power. This has paved the way for not only violence in villages, society, and within families, but also deaths,” he observed.
In fact, there was no level playing field in terms of contest in polls due to rampant use of money as well as role of those with criminal background, he observed. Such was the role of money in polls that each election could help develop a State, he remarked. Mr. Kageri called upon youth to become watchmen of democracy.
