Kiran Bedi wants electoral reforms, says political system 'mired in corruption'

New Delhi, Apr 2 (ANI): Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and social activist Kiran Bedi has accused all political parties of delaying the introduction of an electoral reforms bill to cleanse the country's political system which she says is 'mired in corruption'.

"Please tell us, as UPA, how many electoral reforms bills have been formulated and enforced in the past seven years, or in this parliament, that the Chief Election Commission has suggested? This is our appeal to you (Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj). Do we, the people who trusted you and voted for you, not even have the basic right to ask you whether what you had promised and claimed is true or not? Whether it was merely a false illusion? All we demand are answers as ordinary voters, " Bedi told media here.

Highlighting the increasing criminalisation of politics, Bedi also alleged that out of every three lawmakers in the parliament, at least one had a criminal background.

Backing her claims, Bedi went on to cite the case of lawmaker Mangni Lal Mandal, a leader of Janata Dal United, whom she accused of having two wives.

Anna Hazare and his team of anti-graft campaigners have been at loggerheads with the government over the Lokpal Bill. The Gandhian crusader has in the past year observed fasts on four occasions over the demand for a strong and effective anti-corruption law.

Last month, social activist Arvind Kejriwal released a list of 14 ministers who could be investigated for corruption under a strong ombudsman bill.

He took the names of around 25 politicians, including ministers Sharad Pawar, S.M. Krishna, P. Chidambaram, Praful Patel, Kapil Sibal, Kamal Nath, Farooq Abdullah, Ajit Singh, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh, M.K. Azhagiri and G.K. Vasan.

"If the Lokpal Bill comes into force, FIRs will be lodged against 14 ministers of the Union Government," he said.

"Who will punish people like them? Delhi Police or the CBI? No one knows because these people will never pass Lokpal Bill," Kejriwal said. (ANI)