Date : 5th April 2024
To ,
Hon . Shri . RAJIV KUMAR ,
The Chief Election Commissioner of India.
A humble request letter on behalf of Sajjan Nagarik Manch , Navi
Mumbai...
SUBJECT : We the Citizens of
INIDA ready to fulfil the
"Citizen's Duties" in a
democratic system ,Instruct Government
to fulfil the "Citizen's
Rights" given to citizens by
democracy.
On the occasion of the Lok Sabha Election
2024, we are presenting the "Mann Ki Baat" of the voters in front of
ECI of India in accordance with your
appeal to the citizens about “PERFORMING CITIZENS DUTY ABOUT VOTE” .
In advertisement ECI appealed to the Vothers
that , "Let's vote with pride!!
Let's vote proudly!! Let's celebrate the biggest festival of democracy!!!"
We always respect your appeal, ECI
also must respect Citizens request.
Taking into account
that free and fair elections are the foundation of democracy, it is the first
step in terms of the dignity of democracy; the Election Commission is making
continuous efforts. A current example of this is the "C-VIGIL App"
launched by the Election Commission. The Election Commission of India's C-VIGIL
app has become an effective tool in the hands of the people to prevent
violations of the Election Code.
This is a
welcome step by the Election Commission to use digital technology to ensure
free, fair and incitement-free voting. Former Election Commissioner Shri TN Seshan
has proved that , "How important
the role of the Election Commission can be in the democratic system .
In the last 75 years, for
the efforts made by the Election Commission for the preservation and strengthening
of democracy, public congratulations and thanks to the "Election
Commission of India" on behalf of the entire 140 crore citizens for their
valuable contribution!
Now we citizens looking
forward for concrete steps to fullfill the basic right of citizens rendered by
Democracy.
The Election
Commission seems to be trying in many ways to make the citizens of India aware
of the basic duty of "voting" in a democratic system. Government
offices as well as private establishments are ordered to be closed on Voting
day , so that voters can cast their
votes. But it is regrettable to mention that the Election Commission, which is
the autonomous body of the largest democracy in the world, does not appear to
be "vigilant" about the basic rights of citizens in a democracy.
Even
basic rights have not been fulfilled in the last 75 years. Information of
governance , knowledge of govt. institutions work is the soul of a democratic system. It is the
basic, main criterion of democracy that the information about the affairs of
every system of democracy must be open before the citizens.
Very unfortunate thing is that,
in largest democracy of world , even
today the affairs of the "local self-government bodies" which are run
for the citizens through the taxes of the citizens are kept secret.
Information has to be bought under the Right to Information by paying
amount which seems to be the defeat of democracy.
In fact, the information
about the affairs of all the local Governing bodies from Gram Panchayat to
Municipal Corporation is intended to be open in the public domain. Neither the administration of the state
government is open to the citizens, nor is the administrations of the central
government are open to the citizens.
Not only
that , the use of MLA / MP funds is not made available to the public.
A simple
question to the Election Commission is that how feasible and fair is the term
"democratic system" for a system in which information about the
governance is not available to the citizens? Isn't the title of "the
world's largest democracy" which keeps the government secret from the
people for whom the government is run, from whose taxes the government is run,
misleading and cheating the 140 crore citizens?
"Code of Conduct for Democratic
Institutions" should be applied even after the election so that citizens
can feel the existence of democracy in actual governance:
"Model Code of Conduct" comes into
force along with announcement of election. During this period, all government
systems, people's representatives are seen waking up. In the name of democracy,
they are seen to be very careful and follow the rules strictly. But the same
system is seen to be acting very insensitively after the election, it is seen
that it is trampling democracy moment by moment. To put a stop to this,
"Model Code of Conduct for Democracy - Promotion - Strengthening"
should be implemented even after the election.
As per the model
code of conduct after the election, the following points should be implemented
by the people's representatives and the state-central government machinery:
1) "Details of movable and immovable property", education
details , crime details given by
candidates while filling nomination form for election should be made available
immediately on C-Vigil App, so that it is easy for the voters to choose the
right / qualified candidate for democracy.
2) It should be made mandatory that the allocation of funds given to
MLA- MP’s should be made open in the public domain.
3) It should be made compulsory to open the administration of all local Governing
bodies from Gram Panchayat to Municipal Corporation to public domain for tax paying
citizens.
4) The fact that certain government officials are dear to the people's
representatives is evident from the case of "Transfer of the Commissioner
of the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai". The biggest obstacle in
implementation of corruption-free, people-oriented, impartial democracy is
"corruption, bias in the transfer-appointment of government
officials".
Since the power of
appointment and transfer of government employees and officers is vested in the
people's representatives and it is misused in an obvious "meaningful"
manner. By virtue of that , it is not possible even if the government
employee-officer decides to conduct an honest, corruption-free administration.
Officials who
try for corruption free transparent governance are directly shown the ghat of
Katraj i.e transferred frequently and abruptly to demoralize them. Hence, even if the officials want to, they cannot
fulfill the basic criteria of democracy which is transparent-corruption-free
governance.
It is very
necessary for the Election Commission to curb this. Perhaps the demands of the
citizens will be rejected by saying that holding elections in an impartial
environment is the mandate of the Election Commission, but our citizens will
have a counter question that "democracy cannot be limited to elections in
an impartial environment". It is also the duty of the Election Commission
to see whether the governance in a democracy is favourable or unfavourable to
democracy
Otherwise,
elections have no meaning in the eyes of our citizens and voters. If the
elections which form the foundation of democracy are disregarding the basic
rights of democracy, then the question arises before us voters that if the dream
of democracy is not going to be fulfilled then why should we vote in elections?
5) In the same manner as the "OBSERVERS" of the Election
Commission are watching with oil in their eyes during the elections, the
Election Commission should also keep an eye on the entire 5-year
administration. Again it has to be mentioned that only elections do not mean
democracy. Candidates whose behaviour is anti-democratic during the 5-year
period should be disqualified by the Election Commission for the next election.
Without the
transparency in Governance, It is very difficult for voters today to select
good candidates.
Currently, choosing the right
candidate from the polls without knowing the utilisation of MLA/MP funds , without the complete knowledge of the
candidates is like "shooting in the dark"!
Sorry for the
trouble! It is hoped that sending such a representation to the Election
Commission will not fall under the criteria of "Code of Conduct
Violation".
Yours truly,
Sajjan Nagarik Manch , Navi Mumbai
[ALERT CITIZENS FORUM , NAVI MUMBAI]
Email for contact : alertcitizensforumnm@gmail.com
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