Santosh Hegde wants debate on electoral reforms
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.
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