Appeal to the President

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR ELECTORAL REFORMS
 

August 24th, 2002

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
President of India
Rashtrapathi Bhavan
New Delhi

Esteemed Rashtrapathi ji,

On behalf of the National Campaign for Electoral Reforms, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you for returning the Ordinance seeking to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1951 for the
reconsideration of the Council of Ministers. Your action enthuses the whole nation, and renews the hope of peaceful transformation of our beloved country. You acted with exceptional diligence, courage,
constitutionalism and statesmanship.

We hope that your wise counsel will be heeded by the union government, and the unconstitutional provisions violating Article 19 (1) of the constitution will be deleted before recommending to you again; or the Ordinance proposal will be dropped altogether, and full disclosures as ordered by the Election Commission will prevail. The legitimate concerns of the political parties about discretion in the hands of the returning officers can be easily addressed by a simple amendment of Rule 4 of the Conduct of Election Under the circumstances, we are confident that the government will now act in keeping with the highest tradition of democracy and refrain from a patently illiberal and unconstitutional path. If, however, wiser counsels do not prevail, then the nation will once again look up to you to defend the Constitution and protect the citizens' fundamental rights. If the Ordinance is resubmitted to you without providing for full disclosures, then it will be directly in conflict with the fundamental rights, and the Subject to Indian democracy needs to be rejuvenated through comprehensive electoral and governance reforms. Disclosure of antecedents of candidates is but the first vital step in this direction. The nation looks up to you to defend democracy and liberty. If the parties and government fail to respond to people's urges, then you have to step in. You have already proved that the nation's interests are secure in your hands. We could not have asked for better leadership and guidance in this daunting task of democratic trends.
 

With warm
regards
 

Jayaprakash Narayan
National Coordinator
 

Encl: Letter from the Leader of the Opposition

August 16, 2002
 

Dear Shri Narayan

I am desired to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated August 10, 2002 addressed to Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha regarding the proposed draft amendments to the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 based on the recent Supreme Court directives.

In this regard I have been asked to convey that the Congress Party has already clearly enunciated its views. The Party has no objection in requiring a candidate to furnish all relevant information as observed by the Supreme Court in the judgment under reference and as notified by the Election Commission in its guidelines. The Party is willing to fully comply with the observations of the Supreme Court regarding the right of the elector to receive all relevant information about a candidate’s assets and liabilities and criminal antecedents. The Congress Party is only opposed to the power vested by the Election Commission in the Returning Officer to reject a nomination paper on the ground of incomplete or false information.

With good wishes
 

Yours sincerely

Pulok Chatterji