I’m supporting “No criminals in Politics” campaign. During recent Social Media Summit, me and Apurva were wearing badges which said “I won’t vote for criminals”. Here’s someting about the campaign.
The recent Mumbai attacks have once again highlighted the need for individuals with a high level of personal integrity to provide effective leadership for our country. It is well known that across party lines, a number of individuals with criminal antecedents are given tickets to contest elections. There is little public pressure on political parties to not give tickets to such individuals. In 2004, about 20% of those who were elected to Parliament had criminal antecedents. This problem is prevalent across most political parties. This tears into the moral fabric of the country and has an impact on governance.
The ‘No Criminals’ Campaign Idea
The upcoming general elections offer citizens an opportunity to make an appeal to political parties not to give tickets to persons with criminal antecedents. The core idea therefore is to launch a nationwide campaign to enable citizens to express their opinion on this issue in a visible way.
The Campaign
The campaign will cover the whole of India. It will build on the public mood in the country to appeal to all political parties. A series of efforts, including widespread use of audio-visual media, print, internet, mobile phones, etc., will be made to reach out to a large number of people across the country. Efforts will also be made to leverage the strengths of existing groups that have done work in the area of not having people with criminal antecedents contest in elections such as the Association for Democratic Reforms, the National Election Watch, etc.
The Timeline
It is expected that general elections will be held in phases beginning in April 2009. This gives us a short window to reach out to citizens across the country.
The Desired Outcome
No political party to give tickets to people with criminal antecedents in the 2009 general elections.
For more information, kindly visit the website of No Criminal Campaign.
Hi,
This is Gurumoorthy.
Can you add the url address viz. http://www.nocriminals.org and sms support syustem (Type NC to know the criminal back ground of your MP. (It is already there in the concept note/executive summary)for the benefit ofthe reader
thanks
hey shudnt u write my name.i was the one who introduced you to it
interesting stuff .. though i am skeptic about the fact that campaign would make a difference.
But nevertheless ..idea is worth appreciating
@Ankita: I was already part of the site. Though I missed to mention that you provided the badges which we were wearing.
@Vivek: Well, if not too big of difference, the small differences also matter..
Even i strongly support this. Even i have put up a post on my blog. BTW i guess no one knows Apurva. Do it unitechy and a backlink
We at Silver Inning Foundation support this intiative :http://peopleforsocialcause.blogspot.com/2009/04/take-pledge-i-wont-vote-for-criminals.html