Party
time in India: 140 new ones up in 60 days
2014 RUSH EC insiders fear many floated launder
money; pleas for more powers to check wrongdoing fall on deaf ears.
In the run-up to the 2014 general elections, it’s
party time in India. No less than 140 new political parties have been
registered with the Election Commission in the last two months. From 1,392
parties in August-September, the number swelled to 1,534 by mid-November.Godmen,
builders, property dealers and retired bureaucrats are among those who have
floated the parties, ostensibly to have a say in the world’s largest democracy.
Election Commission insiders, however, fear it may not be all politics, but
actually business-even of the shady kind-driving this rush into a field where
the entry is all too easy. An unrecognized political party needs just 11
members to gt registered for all times. In the last Lok Sabha elections, 1,150
of the 1,250 registered parties accounted for only about 1% of the total votes
polled. If these parties are not interested in political activity, then why are
they floated?
Political/Electoral Reforms-
Mushrooming of political parties has degenerated the
basic foundation of a strong democracy.
What we need to do.
- To start if recognized party is to get registered
should have at least eleven hundred (1100) members and as of now.
- The membership no should increase to 11000 in 1 year
and more than 1 lakh in 3 years.
-Any party who garners less than 10% of votes be disbanded
The views of Veteran Politician-Som Nath Chatterjee
‘POLITICS LOOKS LIKE FREESTYLE BOXING’
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, is known
for his frank views. The 84-years-old leader, who was elected to Lok Sabha 10
times, feels he is lucky to be out of active politics since he would not have
been able to survive in the current atmosphere.
Politics
appears to have become a freestyle boxing match, a shoddy game and the kind of
language being used in public meetings and TV debates, one gets a feeling that
some leaders are trying to win a competition in abusive politics. In my view, media is giving too much prominence to the
abusive language being spoken by some leaders.
My point is that with the polls barely five months
away, serious issues affecting the people of the country are missing from the
public discourse and the role of media could have played in farcing the
political parties to spell out their stands on price rise, unemployment,
communal harmony and other related issues is not being done. Have the large
sections of media not anointed a particular gentle man as the PM even before
elections? Why is the media nowdays hesitant to discuss his past, particularly
the role in communal riots, so let us be fair.
First of all, parties will have to decide whether they
are ready to put an end to the politics of competitive abusiveness. Next, they
have to ponder over the fact that why the youth of the country shun politics and
look for other alternative avenues to express their views. In the last days of my life I will be happy if politics is not looked
down upon with disdain.
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