Election symbols 'disturb' level playing field: Govindacharya

Political activist K N Govindacharya today advocated symbol-less elections for providing a level playing field to all candidates.
"The best feature of democracy is a level playing field which is being disturbed by symbols," Govindacharya told reporters here.
"What is the need of symbols when the Election Commission has directed to display photographs of candidates on electronic voting machines?" he asked.
"I believe that after Independence, democracy has suffered certain deformities...Election symbol is one of them," he said.
Asked is he had the support of political parties for bringing about political reforms, he said, "The campaign is in favour of people. We are not bothered if political parties gain or loose."

"To grab power, political parties have turned into gangs," the former BJP general secretary said.

"It (politics) is more about caste, religion and region. Hence, we are asking people to vote for the right candidate or go for NOTA (none of the above) option," he said.
He, however, parried a query on democracy within parties.
On RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's call for quota review, he said that in the view of upcoming Bihar polls, it is not the right time for a discussion.
"It's a sensitive issue, but it is not the right time for a discussion," he said.
The former BJP chief secretary also said that anti-cow slaughter activists would stage a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on November 7.