Former V-C laments abuse of ‘money power’ in polls

Visakhapatnam: Increase in cash transfer to voters and abuse of ‘money power’ in recent times left an impact on political process and fair elections, said former vice-chancellor of Adikavi Nannaya University Murru Mutyalu Naidu.

Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, he said he had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene so that the PM could consider concrete measures to put an end to such systems during general elections in future.

He said that in the recent polls, an average of Rs 50 crore cash in each Assembly constituency was spent by the main political party candidates across Andhra Pradesh.

Despite the presence of election observers, police and other concerned election personnel working with an objective of conducting free and fair elections, he alleged that crores of rupees was transferred from one place to another and distributed door-to-door. The former V-C said in the letter that the income tax department machinery, Election Commission vigilance, revenue authorities and police should play a proactive role in curbing such activities.

Failure of these institutions not only paralyses the system during elections but also impacts democracy, he opined.

Through the letter, he appealed to the Prime Minister to initiate electoral reforms for clean elections, enabling common man to participate in the voting process, elect the government without getting Visakhapatnaminfluenced.