NEW DELHI: Congress stood firm on Anna Hazare's demands on electoral reforms, saying it would require wide discussions and could be done only after consensus among stakeholders.
Anna's demand for 'right to recall', which would enable an elected representative to be voted out by his electorate midway the tenure, has triggered strong reaction among the political class, besides his call for insertion of "none of the above" option in the candidates list on EVMs.
AICC spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, "These are important but complicated issues and concepts. They have to be carefully scrutinized. They would require long discussions among all stakeholders and only after a consensus can these things move forward. They cannot be thrown in a casual manner."
Congress response on electoral reforms marked a strong stand after the Centre caved in to Anna's fast to look into his three crucial demands like inclusion of lower bureaucracy in Lokpal's purview, citizens' charter and appointment of Lokayuktas in states.
It is felt that lack of electoral reforms, like corruption, too has strong resonance with people and it would be prudent to attach urgency to them.
Anna's fresh manifesto had MPs speculate on the road ahead. While most feel that inclusion of "none of the above" option was feasible, the 'right to recall' option was impractical. An MP said that in our democracy, any winning candidate had more than 50% voters not voting for him and there was a readymade section to sign on a no-confidence motion even on the day of results. He felt the 'right to recall' could not be enacted against MPs and MLAs who did not have executive functions but were simple lawmakers.
A senior MP said the crucial issue was how to make elections less costly since poll expenses was the biggest source of corruption.
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