-The Telegraph   The Supreme Court today described as “disturbing” a claim that 162 of the 543 Lok Sabha members face criminal cases, and issued notices to the central and state governments on a petition seeking to have these cases fast-tracked. The public interest litigation wants speedy trials of all accused lawmakers — MPs and state legislators — so that they “can clear their name (or) face the consequences of past criminal acts”. “Your...

The Election Commission has turned down Team Anna's proposal to amend the law to introduce the “right to recall” option against non-performing elected representatives through a referendum, stating that the move would bring “instability” and “hamper developmental activities.” Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi and Election Commissioners V.S. Sampath and H.S. Brahma told Team Anna members — Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Kiran Bedi — that such a...

-EPW   The Anna Hazare group’s foray into electoral politics exposes its shaky foundations. The script of this drama was already written. A single issue campaign, focused narrowly on corruption in public life without a wider world view on the root causes of corruption or on the myriad other problems afflicting Indian society, had to come apart at the seams at some point. That moment arrived when “Team Anna”, as the people behind...

The Election Commission (EC) of India’s historic decision on Thursday to disqualify an elected member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly from contesting again for three years, for furnishing wrong information on poll expenditure, is expected to have far-reaching ramifications as it becomes the guiding principle for other high-profile cases pending before it. Umlesh Yadav of the Rashtriya Parivartan Dal has been barred from completing the remaining four months of her...

-The Hindustan Times   The government on Monday said activist Anna Hazare’s demand for the rights to reject and recall elected representatives would be discussed soon at an all-party meeting on Electoral Reforms. Law minister Salman Khurshid said though chief election commissioner SY Quraishi had said these rights would destabilise the country, the government “will be happy to put it up for all-party consultations.” But he said, “We have a very strong lobby that...