New Delhi:
Should the voters in India have the right to reject all candidates in an election? It's a debate started by Team Anna and now their proposal has been endorsed by the man in charge of holding elections in the country.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi has, for the first time, categorically stated that the Right to Reject is an idea whose time has come.
"One suggestion of the Anna group I have started considering very positively. Initially, we were dismissive about it - the right to reject. As we are not able to control money power as much as we would like to, if people start rejecting such people, not only you lose the elections you are disqualified. That will be the only deterrence. I think that is the good point there. The initial feedback was that some people in the government were also favourable to the idea. If that was the case we feel that time has come for us to examine this suggestion," Mr Quraishi said.
After the Chief Election Commissioner's comments, reactions from political parties have poured in. While the Congress says there's a need to evolve a consensus, some others question the efficacy of the proposed system.
"The right to reject is an issue which can be considered provided political consensus is drawn on it. Nobody is objecting to it per se," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
"There should be a detailed debate on this in the political circles as well as the society. One cannot accept the terms if someone just said it," said BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
"We don't understand what is the purpose of it? If you have the first-past-the-post system, then you jolly well have the system you have now," said CPM leader Sitaram Yechury.
Team Anna has made it clear that their next campaign will be for comprehensive electoral reforms to clean up the polity. And now, with the Chief Election Commissioner giving thumbs up to their proposal on Right to Reject, the question is: Will it will find favour with the political class which ultimately has to make the law?