Introduce online voting for senior citizens, physically-challenged persons: Ex-CEC Krishnamurthy
Bengaluru: Former Chief Election Commissioner of India T S Krishnamurthy on Monday suggested that an online voting facility be provided to senior citizens, physically-challenged persons and members of the uniformed services, to start with.
He also urged political parties to seriously explore the possibility of cutting down the number of physical public meetings and increasingly opt for online campaigning, leveraging the power of digital media.
Speaking to PTI, Krishnamurthy said that during his tenure as the head of the Election Commission of India, the proposal to give online voting options to senior citizens and physically challenged persons was examined and informal consultations were also held with IIT Madras.
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But he said political parties had expressed reservations, citing the possible violation of privacy during voting.
"Though there are countries where internet voting is permitted, we have to carry on with the consent of political parties (in India). There is no point in introducing something over which they have reservations. But my own feeling is that at least initially senior citizens and handicapped people and those in uniformed services could all be given internet voting," he said.
"We should seriously think about it," Krishnamurthy said.
He also said with the strides that India has made on the digital front, political parties need to examine whether they can reduce the number of physical meetings for election campaigning. Right now, he said, India sees "so many" public meetings in the run-up to elections.
"These are the things we need to examine," he said. "But being a country of such a large size, we (India) have to take steps carefully. At least we can reduce (physical) campaigns and all that, so many criss-crossing, people going around. We should seriously consider it (reducing the number of physical campaign rallies) because it's promoting unnecessary hatred, violence and things like that," he added.
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Zameer Ahmed blames Union government for petrol price hike in Karnataka
Bengaluru: Zameer Ahmed Khan, Minister for Housing and Minority Welfare, stated that the BJP-led NDA government was responsible for the price hike in petrol and diesel in the state. He was addressing the media in Bengaluru on Monday.
Addressing reporters, Khan said that the central government charged Rs 32.98 per liter of petrol and Rs 31.83 per liter of diesel as excise duty. He criticized BJP leaders for not raising their voices about this issue.
He highlighted that during the UPA government, excise duties on petrol and diesel were significantly lower, at Rs 9.48 and Rs 3.56 per liter, respectively. At that time, petrol was priced at Rs 68.31 per liter and diesel at Rs 48.63 per liter. Under the current BJP government, petrol prices have surged to Rs 106 per liter, despite a decrease in crude oil prices from Rs 97.68 per barrel during the UPA era to Rs 77.64 per barrel now.
Khan questioned why petrol and diesel prices have not decreased despite the lower crude oil prices. He also pointed out that during the tenure of the Basavaraj Bommai government in Karnataka, petrol prices crossed Rs 100 per liter, and cooking gas prices soared from Rs 419 to Rs 903.
Questioning the BJP leaders' silence on the price hikes by the Union government, Zameer Ahmed challenged them to come to an open discussion on the issue.
