Indian Express: Pune: Sunday,
August 14, 2016.
BJP leader and
Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi said that there was a need for Election
Commission to get more teeth so that it effectively deals with political
corruption and lamented the “toothless” situation of the body.
Gandhi was
the chief speaker at a talk, “Need of Political Reform In India”, organised by
Pune International Centre on Saturday.
“It’s high
time that the Election Commission of India got some teeth. What we see today is
that the body is completely toothless. We have seen that the body has only two
auditors a number which goes up to four sometimes who are supposed to
scrutinise the hundreds and thousands of documents submitted by the candidates
ahead of elections. How is it even possible that they can do that effectively.
A country like Argentina has 400-odd auditors with its election governing body.
We need to give it more power,” said Gandhi.
Gandhi
praised Maharashtra for using the Right to Information (RTI) effectively but
also lamented that the most number of killings related to RTI activism have
happened in the state.
“Right to
Information Act is a fabulous piece of legislation and it has contributed in a
huge way in strengthening the common citizen. Maharashtra has seen a whole
breed of RTI activists that has come up in last decade or so. However, it’s
also a sad and alarming situation that most number of of RTI activists too has
happened in the state,” said Gandhi.
PIC president
Raghunath Mashelkar and senior journalist Dilip Padgaonkar too spoke on the
occasion.
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