Varun moves bill on right to recall legislators

More than five years after anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare sought empowerment of people with right to recall elected representatives, BJP MP Varun Gandhi has raised the same issue through a private members’ bill in the Lok Sabha.

The Sultanpur MP has sought an amendment to the election rules to introduce right to recall parliamentarians and legislators if 75% of their voters are dissatisfied with their performance, taking a leaf from the existing practice in some countries abroad.

“Logic and justice necessitate that if the people have the power to elect their representatives, they should also have the power to remove these representatives when they engage in misdeeds or fail to fulfil the duties,” Varun, who moved  Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2016, said.

Son of Union minister Maneka Gandhi, the MP has sought amendment to the Representation of the People Act 1951 through his private members’ bill.

The draft legislation proposes that the process to recall an elected representative can be invoked by a constituency voter by approaching the Speaker. The petition seeking annulment of the membership of an MP or an MLA should be signed by at least one-fourth of the total number of electors in that seat.