Hyderabad, February 10: Conducting a complete free and fair elections in any democracy in the world may not be possible, opined former chief election commissioner James M Lyngdoh. He felt that with political leaders and their parties vying to outdo each other in every possible way, it was difficult to conduct elections in a democratic way.
Lyngdoh was speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Free and fair elections – the soul of democracy’ on the concluding day of the 17th Commonwealth Law Conference here today.
He pointed out that unequal spending power among political parties has resulted in unequal competition which is against the tenets of democracy.
Speaking on the election scenario in the state, he said: ‘’Andhra Pradesh is notorious for the huge amounts of money spent during elections. In a parliamentary constituency in the state, a candidate spends about $10 million whereas the actual ceiling is only $20,000. Seeing these figures it is hard to believe that everything is alright in the election process,’’ he added.
Lyngdoh also expressed his concern over the way the police forces were being used by the vested interests.
He, however, asserted that people of the country were happy with the way Election Commissions has been working over the years.
The former election commissioner stressed the need for the right candidates to stand in the election fray to strengthen the democracy. “In India, there is complete monopoly in politics. The candidates belong to political dynasties, their cronies or criminals. These are the people we are chosing as our representatives,” he said.
–Agencies