None of the above?
‘How many elections shall we have?’ is what the Chief Election Commissioner, S Y Quraishi asks, opposing the election reform issues that Anna Hazare and his team are going to take up.
Quraishi says the the Right to reject and the Right to recall if implemented may escalate costs, encourage short-sighted populism and discourage MPs and MLAs from taking tough but unpopular stands. He said that everywhere where there is discontentment, people would start recalling which may destabilise a huge country like India. “Right to Recall means about 5 lakh people have to sign the application to recall, then we will have to verify those signatures,” the CEC said.
The Election Commission had supported the 49-O (rule) button in Electronic Voting Machines for voters to express their displeasure over candidates. The 49-O rule of The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 describes the procedure to be followed when a voter decides not to cast his vote and records this fact. This means rejecting the entire polling process and going for fresh elections.
Instead of bringing reforms on the amount of money that is spent in the elections, the Right to Recall may in turn raise the costs and would fail to serve the purpose. Selecting a good candidate is more important than rejecting the entire list.
Quraishi said that the EC is open to discussing the Right to Reject proposal with Team Anna and its implications for which a meeting has been scheduled later this month.
