Corruption is essential for democracy because democracy requires elections and elections require unaccounted money to buy the ticket to contest and then votes to win.
Having said that, a reasonable limit would be appreciated. The ticket prices in Bihar have gone through the roof.
If a candidate has to spend all his or her money on a ticket, how will one buy votes?
Disgusting to see no price controls in a poor state of this low-income country. When will we have socialism in politics?
Politicians pay lip service to socialism but when it comes to ticket pricing, they follow prohibitively exorbitant practices. This is extortion.
If people spend so much wealth on just getting elected, they will be forced to swindle money from public works and extort from the people, who have to bear the cost of democracy.
I am not calling for cheap democracy. But cost moderation is essential. I request all stakeholders to sit down and by consensus make the process affordable for the rich and powerful so that they are not excessively cruel on the poor people this democracy is meant for.
This corruption doesn't thrive in isolation. The bureaucracy has to make money for the politician so that the politician can keep democracy alive.
Since Bihar is a poor state, it cannot compete with states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, etc., to have the same rates.
These states are developed to a point that they match the cost, rupee for dollar, of US elections. We are glad to finally outdo developed nations in some departments, but can we first beat them in other departments first, please?
Comments
Post a Comment