Mumbai : With Assembly elections looming ahead, civic activists are now demanding political parties to field untainted candidates.
In letters written to all major political parties in the state, Action for Good Governance and Networking in India (AGNI) has urged them not to give tickets to candidates charged with serious crimes and has also urged citizens not to vote for such candidates.
In a letter addressed to politicos Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena), Raj Thackerey (MNS), Ashish Shelar (BJP), Sanjay Dina Patil (NCP) and Janardhan Chandurkar (Congress), chairman of AGNI D M Sukhthankar has said, “We hope that you will select candidates with no serious criminal record and look forward to your confirming this to us.”
In a press conference jointly organised by NGOs AGNI, Praja and the Association for Democratic Reforms(ADR) here on Monday, activists reiterated that 18 of the 36 sitting MLAs from Mumbai have serious criminal charges against them.
This includes three cases which were registered against MLAs after they were sworn in. These details were given by Nitai Mehta of Praja in his presentation while reiterating findings from their MLA report card for 2011-2014.
AGNI is now planning voter registration drives, college drives, meet-your-candidate events etc in the city to bring about voter awareness. Also, ADR has prepared a software called the Election Watch Reporter which will help citizens notify them about Candidates’ violations.
