Poll panel rejects team Anna’s ‘right to recall’ proposal
02 Nov 2011
After a meeting with core members of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement – widely known as 'team Anna' – the Election Commission on Tuesday issued a statement suggesting that there had been agreement on some issues, though not on others.
The commission turned down team Anna's proposal for a 'right to recall' law that would give the electorate the right to recall non-performing lawmakers through a referendum, saying such a law would create ''instability'' and hamper development activities.
On the issue of 'right to reject' candidates, the commission felt that it may lead to more elections. Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi pointed out that the proposal would only have an impact if the voting percentages were really high.
The team Anna delegates however disagreed with the arguments, saying that the right to recall would make the political parties sponsor worthy candidates and help in curbing muscle and money power.
The commission pointed out to team Anna that it had already proposed to the government to introduce a 'none of the above' button on electronic voting machines.
The Election Commission asked Team Anna to campaign for higher voter participation and strengthening of democracy. Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal said that members had expressed their support for the EC plea.
Besides Quraishi, election commissioners V S Sampath and H S Brahma were present at the meeting. Team Anna was represented by Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Kiran Bedi.
The statement added that Quraishi informed the delegation about the recent country-wide consultations on electoral reforms taken up jointly by the Election Commission and the law ministry.
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