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Right to recall laws in India

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"Right To Recall (RTR)" are existing laws in some states of India that allow citizens to remove or replace public servants holding posts of Sarpanch, Mukhiya, Corporator and Mayor in the government.

History

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In modern India, Sachindra Nath Sanyal was the first to demand the right to replace public servants. The manifesto of the Hindustan Republican Association was written by Sachindra Nath Sanyal some when in December 1924. In his manifesto it's written that, "In this Republic the electors shall have the right to recall their representatives, if so desired, otherwise the democracy shall become a mockery."[1]

The debate over Recall of elected representatives has a long history in the Indian democracy; the matter was even discussed in the Constituent Assembly. The debate was centered on the belief that the Right to Recall must accompany the Right to Elect and the voters must be provided with a remedy 'if things go wrong'. However Dr. B.R. Ambedkar did not accept this amendment.[2]

While some members believed that Recall would help in political education of the people and would encourage voters to think, others argued that it would be improper to provide a Recall provision at the infancy of the Indian democracy. It was felt that Recall would render the constituencies a battleground between candidates and unnecessarily make them victims of political rivalry.[2]

"If there are any stray instances or some black sheep who having lost the confidence of their constituency still want to continue to represent the constituency in the House, for some such bad instances we should not disfigure our Constituency. We should leave it as it is, to the good sense of the members concerned" Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel on 18 July while discussing proposed amendment on power to recall in Constituent Assembly Debates.[3]

At the same time, however, some members feared that village or municipal level bodies could become autocratic in absence of No Confidence Motion or Recall.[2]

The first recall law came as a provision of No confidence motion over Sarpanch by Gram Sabha members in Uttar Pradesh in 1947.[4]

States having recall laws at panchayat level

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Recall has been implemented at Panchayat level in the states of Uttar Pradesh,[4] Uttarakhand,[5] Bihar,[6] Jharkhand,[7] Madhya Pradesh,[8] Chhattisgarh,[9] Maharashtra[10] and Himachal Pradesh[11] Recall has been implemented at Panchayat level in the states of Punjab since 1994 as provision of no confidence motion. Right To Recall Sarpanch is also recently passed for Haryana.

The procedure of Recall over Sarpanch is a 2 step procedure which can be directly initiated by the citizens. After a lock-in period of 1–2 years varying from state to state, certain number of voters of the Gram Sabha need to submit their signatures / thumbprints and petition the Collector office. After verification of the signatures, a meeting of all the Gram Sabha members is organized and if majority of the Gram Sabha votes against the sitting Sarpanch, the Sarpanch is removed.[4][6][7][10][11]

Failure of influence of right to recall laws at panchayat level

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Right to Recall has been in vogue in Uttar Pradesh since 1947 and in Madhya Pradesh for over a decade now but not exercised much at Gram Panchayats level, due to lack of awareness.[12]

In spite of villagers in these states having direct power to remove their Sarpanch, the corruption done by Sarpanch of these states is high and widespread.[13][14][15][16][17]

States having recall laws at municipal level

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Recall has been implemented at Municipal level in the states of Madhya Pradesh,[18] Chhattisgarh,[19] Bihar,[20] Jharkhand[21] and Rajasthan.[22]

Right to recall proposed bills for MP and MLA

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Constitution (Amendment) Bill about Voter's right to recall elected representatives was introduced in Lok Sabha by C. K. Chandrappan in 1974 and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had supported this but the bill did not pass.[23][24]

This Right has been opposed by Election Commission of India and debated and highlighted in Indian politics.[25][26][27][28]

A private member bill, The Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced by Varun Gandhi in Lok Sabha.[29][30]

Campaign for right to recall laws on PM and CM

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Rahul Chimanbhai Mehta an IIT Delhi graduate, activist and politician of India started first draft based campaign for right to recall laws on Prime Minister and Chief minister posts in India in 1999 after returning from United States.[31][32] He proposed written drafts for recall of PM and CM in his book Vote Vapasi Dhan Vapasi.[33] He floated a group named right to recall group in 2006 and started contesting elections to promote his drafts.[31]

After 3 years of formation of Right to Recall group, Mehta want to form a political party to give more publicity to his proposed drafts by using election as a tool and in 2019 he founded Right to Recall Party and became its national president.[34][35][36][37] Mehta had contested various elections from Gandhinagar loksabha constituency and Ghatlodia assembly constituency to promote his drafts.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Shaheed Bhagat Singh great martyrs of punjab(India).Shaheed Bhagat Singh was the hero of freedom struggle in india, great freedom fighter of Punjab, great freedom fighter of India, true freedom fighter of Punjab, true freedom fighter of india". www.shahidbhagatsingh.org. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Journal of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies January - December 2015" https://ipsdelhi.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Right-to-Recall-in-India-An-Analysis-Kota-Neelima-1.pdf Archived 29 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF INDIA DEBATES (PROCEEDINGS)-VOLUME IV Friday, the 18th July 1947" http://164.100.47.194/loksabha/writereaddata/cadebatefiles/C18071947.html
  4. ^ a b c "The U.P. Panchayat Raj Act, 1947, page 32, section 14" http://panchayatiraj.up.nic.in/docs/ActsnRules/GP-Act-1947-English.pdf
  5. ^ "उत्तराखंड पंचायती राज अधिनियम, 2016" http://ukpanchayat.org/pdf/Panchayati-Raj-Adhiniyam-2016.pdf
  6. ^ a b "THE BIHAR PANCHAYAT RAJ ACT, 2006" http://biharprd.bih.nic.in/StateActRules/ACT_Bihar%20Panchayat%20Raj%20Act%202006%20-%20English.pdf Archived 31 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ a b "The Jharkhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2001" https://www.legalcrystal.com/act/135070/the-jharkhand-panchayat-raj-act-2001-complete-act Archived 29 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "M.P. Panchayat Raj Avam Gram Swaraj Adhiniyam, 1993". www.bareactslive.com. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Chhattisgarh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam, 1993". www.bareactslive.com. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  10. ^ a b "THE MAHARASHTRA VILLAGE PANCHAYATS ACT" https://mahasec.maharashtra.gov.in/Site/Upload/GR/The%20Maharashtra%20Village%20Panchayts%20Act.pdf
  11. ^ a b "THE HIMACHAL PRADESH PANCHAYATI RAJ ACT, 1994" https://hppanchayat.nic.in/PDF/THE%20HIMACHAL%20PRADESH%20PANCHAYATI%20RAJ%20ACT,%201994(Final).pdf
  12. ^ "MP: 'Right to Recall' in Panchayats not exercised". Zee News. 16 September 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  13. ^ "PMAY: Corruption Brings Housing Construction to a Standstill in UP's Village – Video Volunteers". www.videovolunteers.org. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  14. ^ "Thane: Woman Sarpanch Accepts Rs. 2.5 Lakh Bribe By Cheque, Arrested". NDTV.com. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  15. ^ "बेलगांव सरपंच ने पीएम आवास में लांघी भ्रष्टाचार की सीमा" http://www.palpalindia.com/2017/11/07/anuppur-mp-Belgaum-Sarpanch-PM-Housing-Scheme-Corruption-Interests-Bribery-news-in-hindi-216877.html Archived 29 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ "सचिव सरपंच की मिलीभगत से पंचायत के लाखों रुपए के कामों में हेराफेरी का आरोप, आंगनवाड़ी भवन बना खंडहर, दीवारों में आईं दरारें | New India Times". www.newindiatimes.net (in Hindi). 20 May 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  17. ^ "Millionaire mukhiyas". www.downtoearth.org.in. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  18. ^ "The Madhya Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1961" http://www.mpurban.gov.in/pdf/MunicipalCorporationACT1961.pdf
  19. ^ "The Chhattisgarh Municipalities Act, 1961 Complete Act" https://www.legalcrystal.com/act/134620/the-chhattisgarh-municipalities-act-1961-complete-act Archived 29 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ "बिहार नगरपालिका विधेयेक 2007" http://urban.bih.nic.in/Acts/AR-02-29-03-2007.pdf Archived 3 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ "The Jharkhand Municipal Act, 2011 Complete Act" https://www.legalcrystal.com/act/135068/the-jharkhand-municipal-act-2011-complete-act Archived 29 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ "The Rajasthan Municipalities (Amendment) Act, 2010" http://www.lawsofindia.org/pdf/rajasthan/2010/2010Rajasthan19.pdf
  23. ^ Vajpayee, Atal Bihari (1996). Vajpayee, Atal Bihari (5 September 1996). "State of the Nation". Shipra Publications – via Google Books. Shipra Publications. ISBN 9788185402703.
  24. ^ "Social activist Anna Hazare during his protests had been campaigning for Right to Recall and right to Reject". The Economic Times.
  25. ^ "Right to recall a dangerous idea". BusinessLine. 19 October 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  26. ^ "A Critical Take On 'Right To Recall' | Live Law". 26 July 2018. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  27. ^ Penguin Random House India Private Limited – via Google Books (13 December 2017). The Dramatic Decade – Landmark Cases of Modern India: Landmark Cases of Modern India. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 9789387625372. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  28. ^ Kumar, Sanjay (8 January 2014). Kumar, Sanjay (8 January 2014). "Indian Youth and Electoral Politics: An Emerging Engagement". SAGE Publications India – via Google Books. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9788132118831.
  29. ^ "Varun Gandhi moves bill in Lok Sabha to recall MPs, MLAs for non-performance". 28 February 2017.
  30. ^ "Right to recall representatives a must for people: Varun Gandhi". The Economic Times.
  31. ^ a b "Fight for recall right". Ahmedabad Mirror. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  32. ^ "Right-to-recall activist spurred by Anna's win". Ahmedabad Mirror. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  33. ^ Mehta, Rahul Chimanbhai; Sharma, Pawan Kumar (14 December 2021). Vote Vapasi Dhan Vapasi (in Hindi). India: Notion Press. ISBN 979-8885306997.
  34. ^ "List of parties registered after 15.03.2019". ECI.
  35. ^ "ECI gives Elections symbol to Right to Recall Party". ECI.
  36. ^ Desk, NH Web (26 October 2019). "In a first, a newspaper ad calls for action against EVMs". National Herald. Retrieved 9 February 2023. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  37. ^ "Rahul Chimanbhai Mehta, National President, Right to Recall Party". ECI. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
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