Something a SoMoKe-andhbhagats will never bother to post / share. But IMO, this information can be useful for activists / voters of India (19-Oct-2015) No.2

October 19, 2015 No.2

https://www.facebook.com/mehtarahulc/posts/10153090839251922

Something a SoMoKe-andhbhagats will never bother to post / share. But IMO, this information can be useful for activists / voters of India

‎Anil Shaw‎ to Right To Recall Against Corruption

October 18 at 8:28pm · 

Paid-media and political leaders in India, intentionally hides the fact that China has recall procedures in lower levels to control corrupt elected village leaders.

Elected village leaders might misuse power and/or fail to keep promises made in election campaigns. They might be incompetent or unaccountable or irresponsible. Villagers have collected signatures, submitted petitions, put forward motions, gone to local official offices or media institutions, and even marched in the streets to demand the removal of some incompetent and corrupt village leaders. Villagers’ struggles have improved the recall procedure and made it work in some cases.

The 1987 provisional Organic Law made a very general and vague reference to the issue of recalling. Article II merely stipulates, "the villagers’ assembly has the right to recall village committee members or call for by-elections to elect new members" (The Division of Local Governments, The Ministry of Civic Affairs 1994:4). It was insufficient to simply have a law that grants voters the right to recall elected official but that does not lay out a procedure for doing so. In the face of protests and demands for recalling, the national government has had to revise the 1987 Organic Law. Specific dismissal terms ultimately were written in the 1998 Organic law, Article 16 of which states:

(…) a proposal of dismissal of committee members is valid when it is put forward and signed by 20 per cent or more of eligible voters in the village. Reasons must be given for the dismissal. The members involved have the right to defend themselves. The village committee should in due time convene a meeting of villagers to vote on the proposal, which takes 50 per cent or more of votes for a pass.

According to the Organic Law, the dismissal should be handled by the village committee. The several cases we have at hand indicate that the village committee may be unwilling to carry out the process, in particular if the dismissal involves the village head. To solve this concrete problem, Article 27 of the Regulations of Village Election of Zhejiang, passed by the 16th session of the 9th Provincial People’s Congress, stipulates:

A proposal to dismiss a committee member is valid when it is put forward and signed by 20 per cent or more of eligible voters in the village. The Proposal should be submitted to the village committee in written form with reasons given for the dismissal. Copies of the proposal should be sent to the township governments as records. Upon receiving the proposal, the village committee should convene a meeting of villagers to vote on the proposal no later than within a month. Meanwhile, the sponsors of the dismissal should have their representatives state their reasons at the meeting. Committee members involved in the dismissal proposal have the right to defend themselves. It takes 50 per cent or more votes to pass the proposal, and the result should be reported to the township government. If the village committee does not convene a meeting 30 days after it has received the proposal, the township government should intervene and help to hold the meeting of villagers.

It is apparent from the regulation that township governments have an important role to play in the recalling of committee members. Township intervention has proved invariably to be crucial in the dismissal of the village chiefs of Xikouwang, Bailian and Jile villages.

Since the promulgation of the new law, there have been quite a lot of dismissal cases. Almost all motions of dismissal are triggered by corruption in village affairs. In Yiwu county, 305 village leaders were dismissed through village representative meetings in year 2000.

The “Village Committee” is the fundamental government unit in rural China. As a result of on-going reforms, close to a million rural communities have selected Village Committee members through direct election. 900 million farmers are now guaranteed the right to choose their own local leaders.

Independent observers from a number of countries, including US, have attested to the fairness of these elections. In rural China – where the majority of Chinese citizens live – “grassroots democracy” is growing.

Please demand Right to Recall and TCP to improve the system in India. Citizens should demand via SMS, Email, mail, in person etc. from their MLAs and MP and ask others to do the same on FB, etc.

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