New Delhi, January 25
Addressing the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Election Commission, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today lamented that politics was not attracting the best and the brightest.
“It is also a matter of concern that educated professionals and growing middle class often shy away from participating in the electoral process,’’ he told a gathering of heads of electoral institutions from nearly 40
countries. Regretting that many people were not willing to take the trouble of casting their votes, the PM said: “Poor turnout in many constituencies undermines, to some extent, the legitimacy of the victor in the system that we follow”.
Noting that there was a general worry that people without sufficient means could not contest elections, Manmohan Singh said the background of many contestants did not inspire the confidence of the people. He sought a solution to these issues by consensus so as to improve the quality of democracy.
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, who inaugurated the celebrations, said the impediments, lacunae and malpractices in the electoral process would have to be removed with determination to make democracy cleaner, healthier and stronger.
“We have to see that the power of voting vested in the people makes them powerful enough to change their own destiny through democracy and, therefore, the importance of making democracy fully participatory,’’ she said. The President also released a commemorative stamp to mark the occasion.
Vice President Hamid Ansari dubbed as a blot the extensive media-related malpractice of paid news and coverage packages. He later released a book titled ‘Reinforcing Indian Democracy in Lok Sabha Elections - 2009’.
Speaker Meira Kumar, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj were also present at the
function.
Earlier, Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla identified the challenges before the commission and the objective of organising the year-long diamond jubilee celebrations
