Karnataka - Mangalore   

‘Political parties are not discharging their duties’

MANGALORE: Upset with the failures of the political parties in discharging their constitutional duties, Moodbidri-based writer Aravind Chokkadi on Friday cast his vote in favour of none of the candidates or parties.

Taking recourse to a provision in the relevant rules, he refused to cast his vote after his electoral roll number was entered in the register of voters in Form 17A (list of electorate who cast their votes). Mr. Chokkadi, author of 26 books, said the Legislature should function as protector of public wealth. But when an allocation of Rs. 2,781 crore was made for Ramanagaram, the constituency of the former Chief Minister, H.D. Kumaraswamy, no legislator objected to it. “If the legislators cannot discharge their basic duty, it’s meaningless to elect them,” he said. Besides, the Executive was overtaking the functions of the Legislature which was not able to assert itself. He alleged that education was being privatised at the behest of the Executive. The dim prospects of education being denied to the poor are not being questioned by the Legislature. Many decisions were being dictated by the World Bank or the U.S., he alleged. Blaming the political parties for the scenario, he said they gave ticket to criminals, corrupt and party-hoppers, bereft of any ideology. In Mangalore, they were helping the attempts to acquire agricultural and non-agricultural lands for a mega special economic zone. Though there were good candidates in Moodbidri, he had refused to vote for any as there was no provision to choose candidates without identifying with their party. Mr. Chokkadi has expressed his resolve not to vote till the situation is reversed. He has demanded compulsory voting with the option of nullifying election where 30 per cent of the electors opt to “refused to vote.”

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