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Networking - Citizens'
Action Network (CAN)
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Letter sent to the
Cheif Election Commissioner by the Voters Awareness Campaign of The
Catalyst Trust
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| 19 February 2004 Sri T.S. Krishnamurthy Dear Sri Krishnamurthy, We are glad to inform you that the Citizens’ Action Network constituted by The Catalyst Trust, Chennai, with fraternal Voluntary Organisations/ Movements in Tamilnadu has proposed to launch a Voters Awareness Campaign for the ensuing Parliamentary Elections under the Chairmanship of respected former Parliamentarian Thiru Era. Sezhiyan. The list of organisations in the Network as well as the brief outline of the campaign is enclosed. The Campaign will be totally non-partisan and the thrust of the Campaign will be to sensitise the voters on the need for voting without fail and also for voting for good, honest and competent candidates. For this we request the help of the Election Commission in the following matters; 1. Making available the Affidavits filed by the Candidates to Voluntary Organisations The identification of good, honest and competent candidates has been made easier after the landmark judgement of the Supreme Court of India upholding the Voter’s Right to Know about the Criminal antecedents, Property owned, Loan liabilities, and Educational Qualifications of the candidates as they will have to now file an Affidavit along with their nomination paper giving full and true details on these matters. In our Campaign we would like to make use of these Affidavits and give publicity to the voters in the constituency. For these, it is necessary that the Affidavits of the candidates are furnished to us. As per the Elections Commission’s Order No.3/ER/2003/JS-II dated 27th March 2003 – Para 16 (4) the information furnished by each candidates in the Affidavit shall be disseminated by the Respective Returning Officer by displaying a copy of the Affidavit on the Notice Board of the above office and also by making the copies thereof available freely and liberally to all our candidates and the Representatives of the print and electronic media. We would like to suggest that the information furnished by the Candidates in their Affidavit may also be made available in the internet as and when the Affidavits are filed and further that a few days before the poll the Election Commission may furnish constituency wise names of candidates facing criminal charges involving moral turpitude and are having previous conviction and also those who have movable and immovable properties and loan liabilities above a specific figure say Rs.25 Lakhs. We would also like to suggest that the copies of the Affidavits may be given to interested Voluntary Organisations for a reasonable fee. Since the Affidavits do not contain details about previous convictions and only Part III A of the nomination paper contains details about the previous conviction, Part III A also may be disseminated to the media and interested Voluntary Organisations. In this connection we would like to bring to your notice that copies of the Electoral Rolls part-wise are being made available to such organisations by the Chief Electoral Officer for a fee of Rs.1.20 per page. 2. Giving wide publicity to Rule 49O of Conduct of Election Rules 1961 In our Campaign we propose to ask the voters to vote without fail and also to vote for the best candidates among those standing in their constituency taking in to account the information furnished by the candidates in the Affidavit. In case they find no candidate to be good enough to merit their vote, we are requesting them still to go to the polling station and register their presence and then decide not to vote as per rule 49 O of the Conduct of Electoral Rules 1961. The existence of this rule 49 O is not at all known to voters. We request the Election Commission to give wide publicity to this rule so that those who do not like any candidate do not remain in their home but express their strong feelings in this regard by utilising this rule. We further request that all the presiding officers of the polling stations may be appraised of Rule 49 O so that they may not raise any objection or cause any difficulty to a voter deciding note to vote under Rule 49O. 3. Introducing in the EVMs a column titled “None of the Above” While Rule 49O certainly gives the voter an opportunity not to vote if he/she is not satisfied with the candidates is not able to make his decision in secrecy which he could do when the conventional ballot paper is used in stead of the Electronic Voting Machine. We suggest that a column may be introduced in the EVMs at the end of the names of all candidates titled “None of the above”. This will facilitate the voter to express his dissatisfaction with the all the candidates in total secrecy. We request the Election Commission to take immediate action in this regard. 4. Election Commission itself to take action against persons indulging unlawful activities like booth capturing during the poll Unfortunately, over the years violent activities like booth capturing and intimidating the voters have increased. Very often powerful political figures lead these violent activities. No action is taken against them by the Governments both at the Centre and at the State.. We would like to suggest that in such cases the Election Commission itself should take action. The Observers nominated by the Election Commission should be instructed to be watchful about such happenings and identify the leader(s) who incite such violent activities, so that the Commission can take action against them both under IPC as well as under the Representation of Peoples Act 1951. In this connection we would also bring to the Commission’s notice the Supreme Court observations on the Constitutional responsibility of the Commission to ensure that the election is fully fair and free. As the time available for us for the Campaign is very short we request early orders from the Election Commission on our suggestion particularly for making available the Affidavits filed by the Candidates as well as form Part III A of the nomination paper to Voluntary Citizens Organisations on payment of a reasonable fee. Thanking you, Yours sincerely,
The Chairman will also write a letter to leaders of all the major parties requesting them to nominate honest and competent candidates of whom the voters can be proud to elect them as their member in the Parliament. List of Organisations in the Citizens Action Network
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