The Bhartiya Suraaj Manch today reaffirmed its stand of a better, clean and accountable system of governance for the country and demanded incorporation of stringent mechanisms in the existing democratic set up to cleanse the system for the greater good of the people. The Manch advocated recalling an elected representative for dereliction of his duty.
The Manch emphasized the need of ‘right to recall’ that will form part of the slew of reforms suggested by the organization in the past and held a contrary position to constitutional bodies.
“This (right to recall) has been part of Panchayati Raj acts in some of the states so it is not needed to recall representatives at grass root level. Besides, this would not lead to anarchy as opined by the Election Commission of India. This has brought good results in some of the countries,” said National Convener of the Manch,
PK Siddharth.
The Manch suggested constituting a Political Standards Commission (PSC) headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and comprising eminent journalists, social workers and like minded people as its member. The PSC, according to the proposal, would examine an elected representative’s performance semi annually for two years and based on the final outcome would initiate the process of recall. Notably, the proposal envisages examining a representative on objective criteria such as attendance in the house, number of questions raised in the house, proposing amendments, et al.
“The PSC can initiate the proceedings for recall and it cannot recall an elected representative straightaway,” maintained Siddharth.
Secondly, the Manch advocated the use of social media to obtain views about recall if an elected representative is prima facie found guilty of serious corruption cases. The Manch observed that if the number of petition exceeds 20 per cent of the votes cast during last elections then a re-election should be held. “The recall process cannot be resorted to more than once in the five year term of an institution,” added Siddharth.
The Manch cited cases of latin American countries and other democracies to strengthen their case for enabling change in the Representation of People’s Act. “Such a provision would force an elected representative to work as the sword of recall would be hanging over them,” concluded Siddharth.