Mamata Banerjee Writes to PM Narendra Modi, Seeks Electoral Reforms Including Govt Funding of Elections
In her letter, Mamata Banerjee cited the recent report released by the Centre for Media Studies, which pegged the minimum expenditure in Lok Sabha elections 2019 at Rs 60,000 crore, whereas, the maximum could not be determined. The amount is twice of that incurred in the 2014 general polls.
Kolkata, July 26: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to urgently implement electoral reforms aimed at curbing corruption and criminality in the polls. She has also called upon the PM to contemplate on state-funding of elections.
In her letter, Banerjee cited the recent report released by the Centre for Media Studies, which pegged the minimum expenditure in Lok Sabha elections 2019 at Rs 60,000 crore, whereas, the maximum could not be determined. The amount is twice of that incurred in the 2014 general polls. Mob Lynchings in India: Anurag Kashyap, Konkona Sen Sharma, Mani Ratnam and 46 Others Write Open Letter to PM Modi
The Bengal CM pointed out that this is the highest-ever poll expenditure in any part of the world. She quoted Dr N Bhaskara Rao, chairperson of the Centre for Media Studies, as saying, "Mother of all corruption lies in election expenditure. If we are not able to address this, we cannot check corruption."
Read Full Letter Written by Mamata Banerjee to PM Modi:
The TMC supremo proposed "government funding" of elections as one of the best solutions to curb poll expenditure. The move, which has been adopted by 65 nations across the world, will provide a level-playing field as all registered political parties will be provided an equal amount by the government for electioneering purpose.
Countries where political parties are entitled to direct public funding include Germany, France, the UK, Japan, Italy, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Denmark, Russian Federation, Spain and Sweden, among others.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 26, 2019 05:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).