Vizag Development Council has urged Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal to take steps to stop free of flow of liquor through belt shops.
Expressing concern at mushrooming of belt shops in both urban and rural areas, council president P. Vishnu Kumar Raju and its vice-chairman O. Naresh Kumar said in view of the ongoing panchayat polls all belt shops must be closed. A delegation of the council met Mr Bhanwarlal and submitted a memorandum.
As election code is in place, the election authorities could ensure free and fair polls if the liquor flow was stopped. Belt shops should not be allowed to come up again as Assembly and Lok Sabha elections were slated to take place next year, they said.
“As voting percentage is low among students and IT employees, we requested that booths be set up in all colleges and universities and IT Special Economic Zones and make it part of responsibility of college managements to ensure all students to vote in elections,” they said. They sought mobile polling booths for the convenience of physically challenged and aged people who were not in a position to go to booths.
The facility should also be extended patients admitted in hospitals to involve in voting process.
Mr. Raju and Mr. Kumar said honest and poor people could not contest elections and fight against rich politicians.
“They cannot convey their ideas and messages to the entire constituency without money. We request the Election Commission to buy space in all leading media houses both print and electronic so that all recognised candidates can convey their messages to all in this space and debate on issues with other candidates on TV like in USA,” they said.
Referring to compulsory voting in 31 countries, they said this should be introduced in India to strengthen democracy.
