Poll panel favours right to reject candidates
December 6th, 2011 - 11:34 pm ICT by IANSShillong, Dec 6 (IANS) The Election Commission favours the “right to reject” candidates to do away with criminals in India’s electoral system, a poll panel official said Tuesday.
“The Election Commission welcomes the ‘right to reject’ but not the ‘right to recall’ as it would bring political instability and hamper developmental activities,” Election Commissioner H.S. Brahma told IANS.
He said that the commission had proposed to the government in December 2001 to introduce a button on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) so that voters could exercise ‘none of the above’ option, which means the voter rejects all the contesting candidates.
“A proposal for debarring candidates against whom charges have been framed by a court of law for heinous crimes from contesting elections has already been sent to the government way back in 1998 and the same is at an advanced stage of consideration by the government,” Brahma said.
However, he disfavoured the proposal to allow the voters to recall candidates they were unsatisfied with.
“Right to recall is next to impossible because of various implications involved in frequent elections and repeated imposition of the model code of conduct,” Brahma maintained.
Brahma held one-on-one discussions with Meghalaya Governor R.S. Mooshahary and Chief Secretary W.M.S. Pariat here.
He also reviewed the state’s preparation of electoral rolls ahead of the assembly elections scheduled for 2013.
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- Shutdown brings normal life to standstill in Meghalaya - May 14, 2012
- Advani not in favour of right to recall MPs - Oct 21, 2011
- EC meets political parties to explain new instructions for forthcoming elections - Mar 09, 2011
- 'PM should be elected directly' - Jan 30, 2011
- Meghalaya gets new chief information commissioner - Jul 07, 2011
- BJP complains to poll panel against Verma's quota remarks (Lead) - Feb 17, 2012
- Bar criminals from contesting elections: Quraishi - Mar 27, 2012
- Hours before poll panel's arrival, Rs.85 lakh seized in Punjab - Dec 26, 2011
- EC appoints about 1000 observers for Assembly polls - Mar 10, 2011
- Around 75 percent voting in Tamil Nadu assembly by-poll (Second Lead) - Mar 18, 2012
- Congress against, BJP for right to recall - Aug 29, 2011
- Hazare's 'right to recall' idea impractical: Experts - Sep 18, 2011
Tags: assembly elections, brahma, chief secretary, code of conduct, criminals, election commission, election commissioner, electoral rolls, electoral system, electronic voting machine, heinous crimes, imposition, India, model code, political instability, poll, proposal, shillong