for the first time in Chhattisgarh people have recalled chairpersons of three nagar panchayats for creating obstacles in developmental work and corruption. The State Election Commission declared the previous elections of the chairpersons null and void after people voted for their removal on June 15.
The councillors of Gundardehi Panchayat and Nawagarh Panchayat in Durg district and Rajpur Panchayat in Surguja district had brought forward a No-Confidence motion against their chairpersons, Bharti Sonkar, Sitaram and Khoren Khalko respectively. On that basis, sub-elections were held to know the people's verdict. The majority of the people in the three nagar panchayats voted against the chairpersons.
Chhattisgarh has become the second state after Madhya Pradesh to vote out an elected representative by using the "right to recall" enshrined in the Chhattisgarh Nagar Palika Adhiniyam (Chhattisgarh Municipality Act 1961).
The law to recall elected public representatives is an old one, but is rarely used. Section 47 of the act provides that if three-fourths of councillors of a nagar panchayat inform the district collector, in writing, of having lost faith in the chairperson, the process of recalling can be started. The collector gets the complaint checked and sends a report to the state government.
On receiving reports, the Chhattisgarh government had informed the state election commission, which held polls. Only two symbols were printed on the ballots, one of which depicted an empty chair and the other, an occupied one. The occupied chair symbolized keeping the chairperson on the post and the empty one meant removal. In all the three elections, more than 50 per cent votes were cast for removal.
In Chhattisgarh, two years ago corporators sought recalling the Mahasamund Nagar Panchayat president, Vimal Chopra, who challenged the move in court. The case is pending. Last year when the Gundardehi councillors sought recalling Sonkar, she approached courts but her appeals were dismissed.
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