Few questions to those who are rejecting the idea of right to recall as foolish and impractical.
Here are few arguments made to dismiss the idea and my counter-arguments to them:
Right to recall will lead to political instability -
Right to recall will lead to political instability -
If this is a mechanism to recall corrupt politicians. No political party ever admits that majority of their party members are corrupt. Then what is the problem ? We should not have any problem, if say, only 1% of the candidates are recalled and replaced every two years. One-third of the Rajya Sabha members retire every two years. It does not lead to instability. [ We will come to issue of elections later.] Saying that right to recall will lead to political instability is indirectly stating that majority of the politicians in India are and will be corrupt.
Right to Recall will become a weapon in the hands of losers to find a subterfuge way of defeating the winner -
Right to Recall will become a weapon in the hands of losers to find a subterfuge way of defeating the winner -
You are assuming that we can only build system which can be misused. The subterfuge could happen in the elections as well. If you can guarantee that no rigging happens in the elections, you should also be able to guarantee that no rigging happens in a procedure which is as important as the elections. You have to. That is your job, is n't it ? Secondly, in a democracy a person can be elected or voted out only if majority of people think so. So, majority of the voters have to express their dissent. In a country where elections are skipped for vacations, it is very unlikely that majority of the people would go to reject a candidate unless they are totally frustrated. Thirdly, if voters are believed to be capable of choosing right candidates, we can also trust their judgement of rejecting corrupt ones.
Who will verify signatures ?
Why are we talking of signatures ? Are we not capable of building an electronic system ? It is not as complex as rocket science. We can launch satellites, send rockets to moon build nuclear plants. Then why not a computer based system for elections ? We have a post office in every village, town or district of our country. Percentage of these running without electricity should be very less. We can install computers / devices here for the purpose of registering recall votes. A citizen can walk into these centers anytime and register his dissent. At the end of specific period say 1 year or 2 year, these votes can be counted. Internet based services can be used as well. Internet banking has now become common in large cities. Many of our IT companies specialize in creating web based solutions.
Cost of elections
What is the exact expenditure on elections, by-elections, state elections, municipal elections ? To whom is it costly -- for the election commission or the political parties who invest lot of money in winning them ? EVMs are not changed for years, teachers and schools are always available for free. Nevertheless, if we make recalling a permanent system powered by electronic means we can cut down the cost.
At the end, I would only like to say that we can improve any system only if we are optimistic to find solutions to problems rather than being pessimistic and discouraging those who are eager to bring about change. I certainly believe that we can change our electoral system, so that it reflects the aspirations of billion people rather than few power hungry people - like it is today.
