Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has said there is a need to empower panchayati raj bodies so that democracy could be more meaningful and robust. He was addressing the 1st Democracy Awards ceremony in Mumbai today.

The award has been instituted by State Election Commission of Maharashtra. Mr Naidu regretted that even after 26 years since local bodies have been constitutionally empowered, devolution of powers and functions seems to be less than satisfactory.

He emphasised that all the States must review the progress they have made with regard to devolution of powers.

He said, the State Governments are duty bound to provide all the resources to State Election Commissions in order to help them conduct elections in a free, fair and transparent manner.