Probably for the first time in India, the Nagar Palika Act of Chattisgarh Province, which gives ‘the right to recall’ to the citizens, has taken a toll of three civic chiefs who were voted out of their office recently. As per the law, which has several riders, recall proceedings can be initiated against a President or a corporator of a municipality (Nagar Panchayat), provided he has completed two years in the office and that three-fourths of the corporators looses confidence in him conveying the same to the District Collector in writing. After getting the complaint, the collector arranges for ‘Trust Voting’.
The ‘Trust Voting’ is taken through a ballot that carries only two symbols, an occupied chair for ‘Yes’ voting and a vacant chair for a ‘No’ voting. If the majority voters of the ward vote on the ‘vacant chair’ symbol, the incumbent loses the election and is unseated.
The three unseated presidents are a)Bharti Sonkar, woman president of Gunderdehi Nagar Panchayat, getting 1389 votes in favour and 1977 votes against, b) Sitaram of Nawagarh Nagar Panchayat, getting 865 votes in favour and 1146 votes against and c) another woman president Khoren Khalco of Rajpur Nagar Panchayat,.
In a precedent, two years ago, corporators of Mahasamund sought to recall their President Vimal Chopra who moved the court and the verdict is awaited. Bharti too moved court but was not lucky enough and lost both in High Court and Supreme Court.