 bill no 53 of  2017 the representation of the people (amendment) bill, 2017 by dr dharam vira gandhi, mp a billfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1951be  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—short title and commencement1 (1) this act may be called the representation of the people (amendment) act,20175(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appoint43 of 1951amendment of section 22 in section 2 of the representation of the people act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to asthe principal act), in sub-section (1),—(a) after clause (bb), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—'(bc) "constituency" means the parliamentary constituency;';10(b) after clause (c), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—'(ca) "designated place" means any public place designated by the election commission where the election petition is available for the electors to sign;'; (c) after clause (h), the following clause shall be inserted namely:—'(ha) "recall petition" means a petition calling for a member of parliament to vacate his seat in the house of people;'; and5(d) after clause (i), the following clauses shall be inserted namely:—'(ia) "signing period" means a period of sixty days from the date of submission of petition to the election commission;';'(ib) "speaker" means the speaker of the house of people;'10insertion ofnew part vb3 after part va  of the principal act, the following part and sections thereunder shall be inserted namely:— "part  vb recall of member of parliament15conditions to hold a recall election petition78c (1) a member of parliament shall be deemed to have vacated his office if he is recalled through a recall petition filed with election commission signed by not less than ten per cent of the total number of electors of that constituency in such manner as may be prescribed(2) subject to the provision of sub-section (1), no process of recall of a member of parliament shall be initiated—20(i) within a period of two years from the date on which such member of parliamentis elected and enters upon his office; or(ii) if that member of parliament was elected in a bye-election and one-half ofthe period of tenure of such member of parliament has not expired; or(iii) if  a notification for general election is issued by the election commissionwithin sixty days following the date of petition submitted to the election commission; or25(iv) if that member of parliament is already subject to a recall petition process 78d the election commission shall ensure that the recall petition is available for the public for signing at the designated places during the signing periodrecall petition to be make available for signing78e every elector of the constituency, in respect of whose member of parliament the recall petition has been filed, shall be eligible to sign the recall petitionpersons eligible to sign a recall petition3078f every recall petition shall be signed in such manner as may be prescribed by the election commissionmanner of signing the recall petition78g (1) the election commission shall forward the result of the recall petition to the speakerresult of recall petition35(2) a recall petition of a member of parliament shall be deemed to be successful recallpetition for the purposes of this act, if it is signed under section 78f by electors whose number is not less than thirty-five per cent of the number of valid votes which that member was polled in his electionvacation of seat upon recall78h the member of parliament in respect of whom the recall petition was filed, uponsuccessful recall petition under sub-section (2) of the section 78g, shall be deemed to have vacated his seat in the house of the people40conduct of a bye-election78i when as a result of a successful recall petition, a seat in the house of the peopleis duly vacated under section 78h, the election commission shall cause a bye-election to be held to fill the vacant seat in such manner as may be prescribed" statement  of  objects  and  reasonsrecall of parliamentarians is said to be a democratic method, by which citizens have the power to remove or in effect de-elect a member of parliament before the end of his term of office this power to removal of a member of parliament is an instrument for the constituents to scrutinise their performance and conduct and ensure good practices and delivery of services that an elected representative is expected to follow this right flows from the fundamental principle of representative democracy which is enshrined in the indian constitution as a part of its basic structure it is a prerogative of the electors to decide whether a non-performing representative be allowed to represent them in the parliament this puts a check on the representatives and makes them accountable to the publicin some states like chhattisgarh, madhya pradesh and rajasthan, the right to recall has been incorporated in their respective nagar palika acts thus, it is required to introduce a similar legislation at the national level as wellcountries like usa, switzerland, canada, taiwan, venezuela and ukraine have adopted specialised legislations on the people's right to recall elected representatives although the modes of recall may vary but the essence of law is same in all these countriesit is, therefore desirable to enact a law to de-elect a member of parliament who has lost public confidence, regulate the procedure with regard to the recall of the elected members of parliament and improve parliament's transparency and accountability to the general publichence this billnew delhi;dharam  vira  gandhifebruary 14, 2017 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill vide proposed section 78d provides that the election commission shall ensure that the recall petition is available for the public for signing at the designated places during the signing period the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india as the expenditure to be incurred would depend upon the number of recall petitions filed, it is not possible at this stage to give the exact amount of recurring expenditure which would be involved out of the consolidated fund of indiano non-recurring expenditure is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 3 of the bill vide proposed section 78c provides that any elector may file a recall petition with the election commission in such manner as may be prescribed the proposed section 78i empowers the election commission to hold a bye-election to fill the vacant seat on a successful recall petition in such manner as may be prescribed as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character annexure extracts from the representation of people act, 1951 (43 of 1951)  interpretation2 (1) in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—  (bb) "chief electoral officer" means the officer appointed under section 13a of the representation of people act, 1950 (43 of 1950);   (e) "elector" in relation to a constituency means a person whose name is entered in the electoral roll of that constituency for the time being in force and who is not subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in section 16 of the representation of the people act, 1950 (43 of 1950);   (h) "public holiday" means any day which is a public holiday for the purposes of section 25 of the negotiable instruments act, 1881 (26 of 1881);   ———— a billfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1951————(dr dharam vira gandhi, mp)gmgipmrnd—4882ls(s3)—17-03-2017