Hyderabad: Forum for Good Governance (FGG) has appealed that political parties must deny tickets to aspirants and leaders with criminal records as candidates for Telangana Assembly elections.
On Monday, FFGG organised a round table conference on ‘Elections – Selection of Candidates’, to discuss the deterioration of electoral politics.
During the meeting, the forum also opined that citizens or voters must stay informed about the criminal past background, if any, of the contesting candidates.
Telangana Legislative Assembly elections are likely to be held in the coming months as the term ends in December.
Those who participated in the meeting included retired IAS and IPS officers, bureaucrats and activists.
They discussed the ground reality of people who are obsessed with the desire for power entering into politics.
“We have decided to appeal to all the heads of the political parties not to give tickets to people with criminal antecedents, and to allocate 30 percent of the seats to women,” FFGG secretary M Padmanabha Reddy told TNIE.
Concerned over the use of money and muscle power in politics, Lok Satta Party (LSP) founder-president Jayaprakash Narayan said decentralisation of power, governance by the law, and revolutionary changes in the entire election system will bring change in 20 to 25 years.
Jayaprakash said that nowadays, money, caste, family, megalomania, and unapologetic loyalty to high command have become the qualities to be a candidate.
An attendee also said that it should be ensured that electoral rules and provisions are followed while exposing the loopholes to strengthen the system, with elections just a few months away.
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