By IANS,
Chandigarh : Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee Sunday made out a strong case for the recall of wayward MPs by their constituents.
“Justifiably, there is a growing demand to introduce a system of recall to deal with elected representatives who ignore the interests of people and are guilty of malfeasance and improper conduct or indulge in corrupt or criminal activities,” he pointed out.
Chatterjee was addressing presiding officers and secretaries of state legislatures and parliament after inaugurating the 73rd conference of Presiding officers of Legislative Bodies in India at the Haryana assembly complex here Sunday.
“If a member is found to be insensitive, incompetent, corrupt, indifferent to the problems of people, or indulges in activities or behaves in a manner unbecoming of a people’s representative, I feel his constituents should be in a position to demand his recall before the expiry of his term,” Chatterjee maintained.
Confrontational politics, based on political polarization around primordial loyalties of caste, religion, region and language, have only accentuated existing societal fault lines, he said.
In many parts of the country, political power has become an instrument to promote a partisan and sectarian agenda, which is coming in the way of achieving an inclusive democracy, the speaker contended.
Chatterjee also pointed out that zero hour in parliament and the assemblies had become a tool for elected representatives to cause disruptions.
“I believe the time has come when we must seriously consider the desirability of having the zero hour because it has turned out to be the most unruly period of the house proceedings,” he added