New Delhi: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday cautioned political parties against resorting to vote-catching populist measures on the eve of elections, as it would ultimately affect the expenditure on development.
Interacting with law students of Bengaluru-based law students at Upa-Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi, he pointed out that strengthening democracy was in the hands of the people and added that voting was not only a right but a responsibility too. He urged people to keep in mind 4 Cs—Character, Conduct, Calibre and Capacity, while choosing their representatives.
Unfortunately, he said, “some people were trying to weaken democracy by promoting another set of 4 Cs—caste, community, cash and criminality”. He said the people should make a considered choice while choosing their elected representatives.
The Vice President also favoured holding of simultaneous elections to the State Assemblies and the Lok Sabha saying “it should be a one-time affair”.
Naidu said that lawyers were important stakeholders in ensuring that people have access to justice.
“It is very important that justice reaches the last man as it forms the basis of a stable and prosperous society. Sense of injustice often leads to alienation and unrest”, the Vice President cautioned.
Calling for making the judicial processes more people-friendly, the Vice President said the law enforcement machinery and the justice dispensing structures must be accessible, credible, equitable and transparently even-handed.
“There is a lot of ground we have to cover in this regard”, he added.
Referring to the heavy pendency of cases in various courts, he said apparently, there were nearly 60,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court and nearly 44 lakh cases in the High Courts.
“We need to take action to reduce this heavy pendency. Justice delayed, as is often said, is justice denied”, he emphasized.
