The Communist Party of India (Marxists) on Monday strongly criticised the move of Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) endorsing “good” candidates and funding 14 of them in the run-up to the May 5 election.
Cautioning the electorate at a press conference here, CPI(M) functionary Prasanna Kumar described the move as detrimental to democracy, alleging that B.PAC was a forum aimed at protecting the interests of corporate entities.
The yardstick to pick and fund candidates did not take into account the ordinary citizen’s interests and B.PAC endorsing and funding 14 candidates was an indicator of the danger that capitalist forces posed to democracy, Mr. Prakash said.
How could the electorate expect the candidates to work for the development of Bangalore with B.PAC’s financial support for their election expenditure? he asked. The recipients of B.PAC’s largesse belonged to the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (Secular).
Meanwhile, the Mahila Pradhana Paksha (MPP) also condemned B.PAC funding the candidates. Its members, who on Monday met Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha, presented a memorandum opposing B.PAC’s stance. “This is an elite way of influencing the voters by pumping in more money for their candidates, destroying a level playing field,” it said.