Bangalore: Team Anna member Santosh Hegde
on Monday called for a wide debate on electoral reforms similar
to the Lokpal Bill and sought to know why measures like 'Right
to Recall' and 'Right to Reject' won't work in India.
"I think there should be a debate (on electoral reforms)
across the country...as is the debate taking place on Lokpal
bill...We will have to discuss why it's not practical in our
country," the former Supreme Court judge told when asked to
comment on Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi remarks
that such a move is impractical.
In an interview to a news channel, Quraishi had said he
is not in favour of 'Right to Recall', 'Right to Reject' as
any such electoral rule will "destabilise" the country.
"It's not possible in India...It will destabilise the
country, everywhere where there is discontent, people will
start recalling," the CEC had said.
Hegde said, "If it's (the clause) suited to one country,
we got to find if there is a way by which you can modify it to
suit our country."
The former Karnataka Lokayukta said while "everybody says
yes" to electoral reforms, there should be debates on how it
should be done -- whether it should be 'Right to Recall' or
'Right to Reject' or electoral funding to be taken over by the
state.
He said Team Anna has no problem in discussing Quraishi's
suggestion favouring appointment of Election Commission by a
collegium of people representing a cross section or political
parties, rather than by the government, to improve public
perception about the institution.
PTI
First Published: Monday, October 17, 2011, 16:27