Claiming that the country's democratic institutions have been taken over by corrupt people,Jammu and Kashmir unit of Samajwadi Party today said the Electoral Reforms Bill should be thrown open for public debate. "Together with the movement of India against corruption,the need of the hour is to throw open the Electoral Reforms Bill for public debate," state president of Samajwadi Party Shiekh Abdul Rehman said. He said it was necessary for cleansing the country's politics of use of money and muscle power in electioneering. Rehman,a former Member of Parliament,said even if the Jan Lokpal Bill is passed by the Parliament,it will not be applicable to Jammu and Kashmir in view of Article 370. "Unless the Jan Lokpal bill,after passage in Parliament,is ratified by the state legislature,it will not be applicable in our state," he said. Rehman claimed that the State Accountability Commission,which could have been an effective tool to check political corruption,has been turned into a "toothless tiger" as all its powers have been withdrawn. He said anyone among the present legislators could not be expected to bring a bill for tackling corruption as "democratic institutions in the state have been taken over by corrupt people". "The political parties are involved in corruption in one way or the other. We need a movement like the one launched by J P Narayan to uproot corruption," he said.
