Debar MLAs who quit, force bypolls: Consumer rights protection

The all-India Consumer Rights Protection Trust has sought an amendment to Chapter 3 and 4 of the representation of the people's act by incorporating a clause debarring those MLAs who resign from the legislative assembly and then contest by-elections.

At a conference on Saturday, trust president Gnana Prakash said that a by-election is a wasteful exercise and should be avoided.
The same candidate should not be given more than one chance to contest elections.

He pointed out that in Karnataka every now and then there is a by-election and quite often a candidate is made to resign from one party and joins another and then contest a by-election.

Prakash said this should not happen and felt that if an MLA resigns during his tenure, he should be debarred from contesting elections for a period of 6 years and the expenditure incurred for his conducting his election should be recovered from him.

He should be punished under the Indian penal code as due to his resignation the money spent by the state exchequer on his election goes waste, he added.

Only in extreme situations like the death of a sitting MLA or if he becomes terminally ill should a by-election be allowed, Prakash said.

He further added that the trust has submitted a letter raising this issue to central minister Salman Khurshid and he has replied saying he would look into it.

CR Narayanappa, former chairman of Karnataka state slum clearance board and patron of the trust, said that he too will pursue the matter.