City
Epaper

Hold all-party meet on state funding of elections: Mamata to Modi

By IANS | Updated: July 25, 2019 18:45 IST

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to call an all-party meeting on holding future elections through state funding, saying it was one of the most urgently required electoral reforms in the country.

Open in App

Noting that state funding of elections is currently the norm in 65 highly developed countries like Germany, Italy, France and Japan, Banerjee said it is also required in India to make the elections "free, fair and transparent".

"The issue is broadly of electoral reforms and especially to prevent corruption and criminality in our democratic polity. The time has come for Government funding of elections which is the norm today in 65 countries in the world," Banerjee wrote in her letter.

"Given the examples across the world on Direct Public Funding of political parties and given that India has gained notoriety of having spent the largest amount of funds in the world in elections 2019... I urge you to call an all party meeting with a single agenda of Government funding of elections in India," she wrote.

Citing a report published by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS) on poll expenditure, Banerjee said the expenditure on the 2019 general elections had been roughly around Rs 60,000 crore ($8.65 billion) which is more than the combined expenditure on the US Presidential and Congressional elections ($6.5 billion).

She noted that corruption cannot be checked if the spiralling of election expenditure is not controlled.

"The political parties spend lavishly on publicity and logistics and are said to have even distributed cash for votes. The Election Commission of India has imposed strict limitations on expenditure incurred by the candidates in their election campaigns but not on political parties," Banerjee said.

"Mother of all corruption lies in the spiralling of election expenditure. If we are not able to address this we can't check corruption," she added.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: indiabanerjeeGovernmentElection Commission Of India
Open in App

Related Stories

CricketIndia vs South Africa 2025 Schedule: Full List of Matches, Dates, Venues and Fixtures

TechnologyOpenAI Offers ChatGPT Go Free for a Year in India; Check All the Features Users Can Now Access

NationalGolden Power: Indian Women Now Hold 24,000 Tonnes of Gold, Outshining Global Investors

MumbaiMumbai Man Pursuing PhD in US Booked for Sexually Abusing Woman on False Promise of Marriage

LifestyleCreative Rangoli Designs for Dhanteras and Diwali 2025 to Welcome Goddess Lakshmi

National Realted Stories

NationalOdisha CM Majhi asks SPs to focus on eight key areas for better policing

NationalOdisha CM pushes crop diversification, urges farmers to boost income via pulses and oilseeds

NationalGaurav Gogoi accuses Assam govt of enrolling outsiders to influence 2026 polls

NationalEducation remains top priority for govt: CM Sangma

NationalShakti free travel scheme contributed to pollution control: K’taka PCB