Anna waves survey

New Delhi, Aug. 1: Anna Hazare’s group today made public the results of a “referendum” on the Lokpal bill it had conducted in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, the Lok Sabha constituency of minister Kapil Sibal.

It claimed that 85 per cent of the respondents had favoured the provisions of Hazare’s “Jan Lokpal Bill” over that of the government’s bill. Group members construed the results as a vote on Sibal’s performance as MP from the constituency.

“The verdict is out. The so-called representatives have failed to represent their people,” activist Arvind Kejriwal said. “Seeing the result, the question arises: ‘Does Kapil Sibal still represent the people of his constituency?’”

The group had distributed four lakh copies of a list of eight questions. It claimed it had collected 86,000 of the forms and compiled the results of 72,000 so far.

Sibal later alleged the referendum was done at the BJP’s behest. A local politician asked how the group could claim to have carried out a “referendum” after handing out the questionnaire to less than a third of the constituency’s 14 lakh-odd voters, and collecting just over a fifth of the distributed forms.

Kejriwal alleged attempts to derail the exercise. He said that when the group called respondents from an area that had submitted 30 forms all of which backed the government’s bill, they said their resident welfare association president had collected the forms and filled them.

According to the activists, 85 per cent of the respondents agreed with the Jan Lokpal provision that any official who violated the citizen’s charter should be fined and the amount given to the affected citizen.

Similarly, they claimed, most of the respondents wanted the Lokpal’s reach to extend to the Prime Minister, higher judiciary, all government officials and the conduct of MPs inside Parliament.

The group claimed similar results from surveys in Mumbai, Nagpur, Wardha and Amravati in Maharashtra.

Hazare said he was willing to shift the venue of his proposed fast, due to start on August 16, from Jantar Mantar. “If they can provide a place where people can reach, where all amenities are provided, then we can go there.”