By IANS,
Shillong: 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.