Team Anna claimed on Saturday that according to the referendum conducted in 14 of the 16 Lok Sabha constituencies, most people said they would not vote for their MP if he/she did not support the Jan Lokpal Bill.
“An overwhelming 96.5% people (average result of 14 constituencies) said they shall not vote for their representative in next elections if he/she doesn’t support Jan Lokpal within the Standing Committee as well as Parliament. We urge the elected representatives to heed the wishes of the people to bring the strongest anti-corruption law,” said a press release of the anti-graft movement.
The Congress was dismissive of the referendum. “It is very surprising. Hazare has no organisation; he only has a so-called team. Then how can it carry out the so-called survey involving so many constituencies,” Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi said.
The constituencies where the referendums were conducted include high-profile seats such as Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareli, Rahul Gandhi’s Amethi, Rajnath Singh’s Ghaziabad, Maulayam Singh Yadav’s Mainpuri, Lalu Prasad’s Chapra and Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari’s Ludhiana.
“Noteworthy are the results of Rae Bareli, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s constituency, where 99.5% people said they will not elect her back if she doesn’t support the passage of Anna’s Jan Lokpal, and only 500 out of over 1 lakh people who filled the form said they would still vote for her,” the release claimed.
In Ghaziabad, constituency of BJP’s Rajnath Singh, 94.4% people said they shall not vote for him again if he doesn’t support Jan Lokpal in Parliament.”
It added, “In the state of Uttar Pradesh, 91.8% people of Mainpuri, Mulayam Singh’s (SP) constituency, supported Jan Lokpal along with 98.3% people of Amethi, Rahul Gandhi’s constituency.”
“Noteworthy are the results of Rae Bareli, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s constituency, where 99.5% people said they will not elect her back if she doesn’t support the passage of Anna’s Jan Lokpal, and only 500 out of over 1 lakh people who filled the form said they would still vote for her,” the release claimed.
In Ghaziabad, constituency of BJP’s Rajnath Singh, 94.4% people said they shall not vote for him again if he doesn’t support Jan Lokpal in Parliament.”
It added, “In the state of Uttar Pradesh, 91.8% people of Mainpuri, Mulayam Singh’s (SP) constituency, supported Jan Lokpal along with 98.3% people of Amethi, Rahul Gandhi’s constituency.”
The results in Chapra, Ludhiana, etc., they claimed, were as one-sided.
The team said it chose the seats on two criteria: either the MP there was a member of the Standing Committee looking into the Lokpal Bill, or was a national leader. The team added that if the Jan Lokpal Bill was not passed in the winter session, UP would see the next phase of the agitation.