Newskarnataka – Udupi

Udupi: The ‘Satyameva Jayate’  programme being hosted by actor Amir Khan  will showcase the ‘ Grama Panchayat Hakkottaya Andolana’  it its episode scheduled to be aired on March 30, 2014.  Creating awareness and empowering voters regarding their rights and responsibilities as citizens is an integral part of this Hakkottaya Andolana.

The Andolana  has welcomed the Chief Election Commissioner’s campaign against the purchase of votes by candidates in this Lok Sabha election.

The Gram Panchayat Hakkottaya Andolana  has  congratulated the Chief Election Commissioner and his office for his unequivocal stand against the purchase of votes during the forthcoming general elections. In this connection, they appreciated the Commission’s “people’s awareness programme” and stated it to be an extremely important step against corruption, inducements and illegal election related activities in entire country.

The CEC’s programme echoes a campaign that the Andolana has been conducting since 2010 asking citizens to subscribe to the personal pledge ‘Me and My Vote Are Note For Sale’ under the banner of the ‘Honorable Voter Campaign’.The Andolana leaders have also expressed their solidarity with this nation-wide initiative by the CEC and extend our full support to the campaign.

The campaign began in 2010 with the Karnataka Gram Panchayat elections when over 20,000 individuals participated in it from 21 district of Karnataka.  Last year during the Karnataka State elections, the campaign was scaled up to the state level with over 21 organisations taking part, covering 46 taluks in 20 districts in Karnataka. What was also very significant was that several women’s federations actively participated and spread the message in their respective villages.

The campaign is not affiliated to any political party and aims to restore the dignity of us as voters and citizens by reasserting our right to demand accountability of our elected representatives and uphold the sanctity of electoral democracy.