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Cong doesn�t want strong Lokpal: Lyngdoh

By R Dutta Choudhury

GUWAHATI, Jan 16 � The Congress obviously did not want a strong Lokpal Bill to be passed in the Parliament and that is why the party made sure that the entire move fizzled out in the recently concluded winter session of the Parliament, observed former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) JM Lyngdoh, who was one of the architects of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Talking to The Assam Tribune, Lyngdoh said that the Lokpal Bill passed in the Lok Sabha was a useless one and there were possibilities that some useful additions could have been made to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha to make it stronger. However, the Congress and some of its allies made it sure that the Bill did not come up for voting in the Rajya Sabha, he pointed out.

The former CEC admitted that at this point of time he is not very optimistic of India having a strong Lokpal Bill to eradicate corruption as �no one knows how another party would behave on the issue after coming to power.�

Lyngdoh said that a large number of youths came out to the streets to fight against corruption, which was a positive development and efforts to put pressure on the Government to deal with the menace of corruption must continue. He said that the present market system is encouraging corruptions as under the present system, the people have become more individualistic than working for the society as a whole.

The former CEC admitted that the present system of elections in the country is the fountainhead of corruption in India. Under the present system, the country and states are divided into constituencies and it is all or nothing for the candidates. If a candidate loses by one vote, he loses everything and that is why the candidates try to spend as much money as possible to win the elections. Though the Election Commission has fixed a limit of expenditures by candidates, there are loopholes in the system and it is impossible to keep tab on the expenditures, he added.

Lyngdoh said that as one of the steps to check corruption, the election system should be changed to ensure proportional representation on the basis of the votes received by the parties.

Lyngdoh pointed out that there should be expert bodies like the Supreme Court, Election Commission etc to keep watch on development activities. He said that at the same time, the people of India must keep fighting for a strong Lokpal Bill to check corruption at all levels.

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