Rahul Mehta Gandhinagar LsCandidate
RTR MP law-draft we have proposed
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Since 1998, we at Right to Recall Group (now Right to Recall Party, to be registered) have been publicizing Right to Recall drafts for RTR PM, RTR CM, RTR judges, RTR Police Commissioner etc.
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In feb-2017, BJP MP Shri Varun Gandhiji has proposed RTR MP draft as private member's bill. His draft is very flawed. Our RTR draft is far better.
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Here is our draft in text form,.
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The link to PDF and DOC is given in comments
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Proposed amendment in People’s Representation Act to enact RTR MP
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The following text is added as new section in the People’s Representation Act to enact RTR MP
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[ comment : The draft has 3 parts -
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Part-I : Basic instructions for citizens
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Part-II : Summary of the procedure give in the draft
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Part – III : Advanced instructions for Officers \ Citizens, and general declarations and comments ]
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Part-I : Basic instructions for citizens
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(1) Approving or not approving replacement candidate for MP, or approving the existing MP :
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(1.1) Seven days after MP election results are declared, if a citizen wishes to replace his MP by any person, who has expressed wish to become MP, then citizen can visit office of Patwari (or Talati or Village Officer or officer designated by Collector), any day. There will be no specific date, time duration or time limit.
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(1.2) At Patwari’s office, the citizen will need to pay Rs 3 fee, and can approve at most five of the candidates who wish to be MP. The citizen may also approve existing MP if he wishes existing MP to continue, for free. The approvals will come on Govt website and will become visible to all. So approval filing is open and not confidential. Fee will be Re 1 for BPL card holder.
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(1.3) The citizen can cancel the approvals of any person he has approved any day by visiting Patwari’s office.
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(1.4) A citizen can approve or not approve a candidate – there will be no ranking
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(1.5) The approval will remain valid till citizen cancels it, or when citizen’s name is removed from the voter list.
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(2) If and when a Recall cum Replacement poll is held, to Recall / Replace existing MP, the citizen may or need not vote for any one candidate he supports
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(3) Later system improvements :
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(3.1) The citizen may register his mobile number in voter list by providing the voter# to mobile phone company and providing his mobile number to Clerk in-charge of voter list. This can be done after Collector orders Clerk to note down mobile number of the citizens in voter list. The mobile number will not be shown in voter details given to election candidates or public, and will be used by Government only.
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(3.2) The citizen may file / cancel his approval via ATM like device at Patwari’s office, bank ATM, SMS or mobile app, as and when Election Commission makes this facility available.
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(4) Later addition of Range Voting System : In future, if and when ECI sets up an additional system by which citizen may give marks to candidate between -100 (minus hundred) and 100 , the citizen may give marks to all or some of the candidates. Not giving marks to a candidate will be taken as giving zero marks to him. If a citizen finds range voting system complicated, then he may continue to use approvals only.
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Part-II : Summary of the procedure give in the draft
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(5) comment : summary of whole law-draft
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(5.1) Any citizen can approve upto 5 candidates, and may also approve existing MP, anyday and cancel approvals anyday
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(5.2) When approval of any candidate exceeds approvals of MP AND (approval of a candidate are 5% more than votes MP got OR approval of a candidate are 51% of all registered voters), then, and then only, there will be a recall poll.
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(5.3) In recall poll, the existing MP will be candidate #1 and he will NOT need to fill any form
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(5.4) In the recall poll, if any candidate gets more votes than existing MP and (gets 5% more than votes MP got OR 51% of all registered voters), then he will become new MP
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(5.5) “5%” means “5% of all registered voters”.
Part – III : Advanced instructions for Officers \ Citizens, and general declarations and comments
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(6) comment :
(6.1) The comments are not part of actual code of this legislation draft. The activists and voters may use comments to understand the draft. And Jurors may use comments as a reference to decide a case. But the comments are NOT binding on anyone.
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(6.2) The important clauses are (1), and (13) and (16)
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(7) (7.1) The word citizen here would mean a registered voter in a Loksabha Constituency, unless specified otherwise.
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(7.2) The word “may” does not imply any moral-legal binding. It clearly means “may” or “need not”.
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(8) Candidature for Replacement cum Recall poll
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(8.1) ECI (= Election Commission of India) will designate one DC (= District Collector or an officer for each Loksabha Constituency) to manage approval filing and recall poll described later.
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(8.2) Seven days after results of Loksabha general election or bye-election have been declared, if any citizen of India, eligible to become MP, comes to DC and wishes to be registered as a replacement of existing Loksabha MP, then DC shall accept form, with a fee equal to deposit of MP election
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(8.3) The form that the candidate will need to fill will be same as Loksabha form. DC will verify the form within 7 days and accept or reject it.
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(8.4) If form is rejected then Rs 1000 will be deducted and remaining deposit will be refunded. The candidate may submit form again.
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(8.5) Upon acceptance, DC will issue a serial number and post replacement candidate’s name and details on ECI’s website.
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(8.6) DC will register sitting MP and next 5 highest voted candidates in the last general election or by election for free without any form filling and deposit. The serial number of sitting MP will be 1, and others’ serial number will be in order of number votes they got. The candidates can get their names removed by applying in writing.
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(8.7) The approval count of all replacement candidates and approval count of sitting MP will be set to zero on the day of registration and after every general election or bye election or Recall cum Replacement poll.
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(9) Citizen approving replacement candidate or existing MP
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(9.1) If a citizen comes in person to Patwari’s office, pays fee as decided by ECI, and approves at most five replacement candidates for MP’s position and / or if he approves existing MP, then the Patwari would enter his approvals in the computer and would give receipt showing voter’s voter-id#, date/time and the candidates he approved.
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(9.2) If a voter comes to cancel his Approvals, Patwari will cancel one of more of his approvals without any fee. Cancellations will also come on ECI’s website.
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(9.3) If Patwari does not have PC etc, then DC shall do above operation in office of Tahsildaar\DC till the Talati gets PC etc.
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(10) Later system improvements :
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(10.1) ECI may create a system which gives SMS notification to citizen on candidates he approved.
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(10.2) ECI may provide equipment to Patwari to capture photo and finger print of citizen, and can give receipt with the citizen’s finger print and photo.
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(10.3) ECI may create a system where in citizen can submit/change his approvals over ATM type machines placed at Patwari office, or via SMS from registered mobile or via internet or via mobile phone apps. ECI will decide the charges. ECI may work with banks to enable citizens to register approvals via existing ATMs)(
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(10.4) The Patwari will put approvals given by every citizen on ECI’s public website with citizen’s voter#, name and names of candidates he approved.
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(11) comment :
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(11.1) Approval filing is open and public i.e. each voters’ approval of candidates will come on website of ECI in a way anyone in world can see
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(11.2) The citizen may approve existing MP or he may not. And in addition, he may approve at most 5 replacement candidates.
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(11.3) SMS sent in (3.3) can be similar to SMS one gets when he makes a credit card transaction. So if someone is impostering a voter, then voter will come to know immediately and can work to register complaint. Also, finger print and photo will reduce the chance of impostering.
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(12) An approval filed by citizen will remain valid till citizen changes approval or citizen’s name is removed from voter list. So approval count of candidate will increase when a citizen approves and will decrease only when a citizen cancels approval or citizen’s name is removed from voter list.
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(13) Condition for conducting Recall cum Replacement Poll : If a replacement candidate gets approval count which
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(13.1) is more than approval count of the sitting MP AND
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(13.2.a) is over 5% (5% of all voters in Constituency) more than votes that the sitting MP got in election in which he became MP OR
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(13.2.b) is over 51% of ALL voters in that Constituency
then, and then only, ECI will conduct a Recall-cum-Replacement Poll in that constituency.
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(14) comment :
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(14.1) The condition to decide if Recall cum Replacement Poll should be held or not, is [(13.1) AND ((13.2.a) OR (13.2.b))] . i.e. condition (13.1) must be met, and at least one or both of (13.2.a) , (13.2.b) should be met.
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(14.2) The “5% “ mentioned in (13.2.a) is “5% of all voters in the voter list”. e.g. if a constituency has 20 lakh voters, then 5% would mean 100,000 regardless of number of voters the sitting MP got, regardless of approvals he has, regardless of number of voters who had voted in past election and regardless of number of voters who have filed approvals.
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(14.3) Example-1: Say a constituency has 20,00,000 voters. Say in the previous general election or bye election, say winning candidate got 360,000.
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(14.3.1) Example-1.1 : So if a replacement candidate gets approvals which are at least (5% of all voters) more i.e. (5% of 20,00,000) more i.e. 100,000 more than votes winning MP got, and approvals are more than approval count of existing MP, then and then only there will be recall poll ; even if approval count of existing MP is zero. IOW, if a replacement candidate gets over 460,000 approvals, and existing MP has approval count of below 460,000, then and then only there will be a recall poll.
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(14.3.2) Example-1.2 : Say a replacement candidate has count of 500,000 but existing MP has approval count of 510,000. Then there will be no recall poll.
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(14.4) Example-2 : Say a constituency has 20,00,000 voters. Say in the previous general election or bye election, say winning candidate got 12,00,000 votes. Then recall poll will happen if and when replacement candidate has more (51% of total) approvals = (51% * 20,00,000) approvals = 10,20,000 approvals and they are also higher than approvals of sitting MP.
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(15) In the Recall-cum-Replacement Poll, the sitting MP’s name will be first on the ballot (or EVM) and he need not file a nomination form and not give any election deposit. The 4 persons with highest approval counts, and also having approval count of over 5% of all voters will also be in ballot, and will not need to fill any form and not give any election deposits. And their names will be in the order of their approval count. Other persons may become candidates by filling form and giving deposits. A candidate may withdraw his name by appearing in person and giving in writing. The recall cum replacement poll will use confidential voting.
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(16) Condition for recall / replacement : In the recall poll, if vote count of replacement candidate who got highest votes
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(16.1) is more votes than votes sitting MP got in recall poll AND
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(16.2.a) is over 5% (5% of all voters in Constituency) more than votes that the sitting MP got in election in which he became MP OR
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(16.2.b) is over 51% of ALL voters in that Constituency
then and then only ECI and Speaker of Loksabha would declare that candidate as the new MP and also relieve existing MP from his service.
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(17) comment :
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(17.1) The condition if MP should be replaced is [(16.1) AND ((16.2.a) OR (16.2.b))] . i.e. condition (16.1) must be met, and at least one or both of (16.2.a) or (16.2.b) should be met. It is similar to clause-13.
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(17.2) Example-1 : Say a constituency has 20,00,000 voters and say in last general elections or last bye elections, say 12,00,000 had voted and say winner got 700.000 votes. And say recall poll happens The MP will change if and only if a candidates gets more votes than sitting MP and gets more votes than (700,000 + 5% of 20,00,000) = more than 800,000 votes, , as per clause 15.2.a
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(17.3) Exampe-2: Say a constituency has 20,00,000 voters and say in last general elections or last bye elections, say winner got 11,00.000 votes. And say recall poll happens Then MP will change if and only if a candidates gets more votes than sitting MP and gets more votes than (51% of 20,00,000) = more than 10,20,000 votes, as per clause 15.2.b
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(17.4) Example-3: Say a constituency has 20,00,000 voters and say in last general elections or last bye elections, say winner got 9,50,000 votes. And say recall poll happens Then MP will change if and only if a candidates gets more votes than sitting MP and gets more votes than (51% of 20,00,000) = more than 10,20,000 votes, , as per clause 15.2.b
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(18) After replacement poll, the approval counts of all candidates will be set to zero irrespective of whether the replacement poll resulted in replacement or not. Existing candidates need not file any new forms.
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(19) For the purpose of recall process, the approvals of the new voters who registered after the last general election or last bye election will not count. The approvals of voters who have been removed from voter list will not count. They will be allowed to file approvals, but approvals will not be counted in clause-12. Also, they will not be allowed to vote in recall poll. The “total number of voters” will mean number of voters on the day of last general election or bye election, minus those removed from voter list after that.
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(20) comment : least harassment to those who don’t want change of MP , unless those want change exceed those who don’t want change.
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(20.1) Say a constituency has 20,00,000 voters and say an MP had got 550,000 votes. Now say that as of now, the 550,000 voters who had voted for that MP still want him to continue. And say that no rival has support of more 550,000 voters. Then these voters will NOT be pained to file approvals and vote in case of recall poll. Because recall poll will happen only if approval count of rival exceeds 550,000 and recall will happen only when a rival gets more than 550,000.
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(20.2) Say a constituency has 20,00,000 voters and say an MP had got 550,000 votes. Now say a rival has support of 650,000 voters. Then recall poll may happen. And if number of supporters of existing MP think that supporters of MP are more than 650,000 and they want that MP to continue, then they may have to vote again in recall poll.
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(20.3) So as long as rival has support of less than votes MP got, the supporters of existing MP will not be pained to work. But if supporters of rival exceeds votes that the existing MP got, then supporters of existing MP will have to take pain to file approval or vote or both.
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(21) Affiliation of candidates with Political Parties
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(21.1) If sitting MP belongs to any Political Party, then as long as he belongs to that Party, (a) he cannot declare himself as candidate from other party or independent AND (b) his Party cannot put any other candidate
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(21.2) For the next 5 highest candidates in the last main election or last bye election or last recall poll, who have been registered as replacement candidate without form filling, the following rules will apply – if they had contested from a Party, then their Party symbol will remain, till it is removed by candidate or the Party President.
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(21.3) Any person who first becomes a replacement candidate will be taken as independent. Any day, he can declare that he is affiliated with a registered Party. When President of Party sends a letter to DC confirming the affiliation, the DC will declare him as candidate from that Party of ECI’s website. Upon attachment with Party, the approval count will be set to zero. Fee will be Rs 2000
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(21.4) A candidate who is attached to a Party can declare himself independent anyday and align to any other Party any day. In that case, his approval count will be set to zero and candidate will have to pay a fee of Rs 2000.
(21.5) The President of a Party can cancel the attachment of any candidate anyday after personally appearing before any DC across India, and giving a signed letter in person. The fee with be Rs 5000. Upon cancellation of attachment, the approval ocunt of the candidate will not change
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(21.6) When recall poll is announced, the attachment of candidates with Parties cannot change till results of recall poll are announced.
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(22) Non binding directive for Range Voting :
A few weeks or months after this law has passed, ECI may or need not allow voters to submit marks between (-100 to 100) for each candidate or just submit approvals. If voter is submitting approval and not marks, then no approval will mean 0 marks and approval will mean 100 marks. But if voter is giving marks, then actual marks given by him will be counted. The candidates total marks will be sum of all marks he got. And if candidate has 1 or more marks from over 51% of all voters, then system will ignore all his negative marks. The total marks of sitting MP will be higher of the two ---- [ (votes he got * 67) , score he got after election ] . And recall poll will happen when a candidates score is (MP’s score + voter population * 100 / 10). And recall will happen as per clause-15. ECI may or need not implement this clauses, only after over 51% of all voters of India has specified YES using clause-CV.2. This procedure is called as Range Voting, and it is immune to so called AUIT (= Arrow’s Useless Impossibility Theorem) . Range Voting is better than Approval Voting used here.
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(CV.1) If any citizen residing anywhere in India wants any change in this law or has any complaint under this law, then he may submit an affidavit to DC’s designated clerk and clerk will scan the affidavit on put on website of ECI along with photo and details of the citizen. The clerk will charge Rs 30 per page. The clerk will issue serial number for the affidavit.
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(CV.2) If any citizen residing in the area covered by the Patwari wants to register his YES / NO on the affidavit submitted in above clause, then he can go to Talati’s office and provide the serial number of the affidavit and his YES/NO on a form, and Patwari will enter his YES/NO for a fee for Rs 3 . The YES/NO shall come on website of ECI along with citizen’s voter-id, name, date etc
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