Team Anna to conduct ‘referendum’ in Amethi, Rae Bareli

A file photo of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare. Team Anna would conduct surveys to assess public perception on the Jan Lokpal Bill in Amethi and Rae Bareli, strongholds of the Nehru-Gandhi famil

Stepping up pressure on parliamentarians, Team Anna would conduct surveys to assess public perception on Jan Lokpal Bill in Amethi and Rae Bareli, strongholds of the Nehru-Gandhi family, and other prominent parliamentary constituencies of Uttra Pradesh and Uttarakhand ahead of the winter session of Parliament.

“The time till Parliament’s winter session (November) is important as the Standing Committee considering the Lokpal Bill will hear views of various groups on this issue,” Anna Hazare’s associate and civil society activist Manish Sisodia said in New Delhi.

The first question in the “referendum” will be whether MPs should support the Jan Lokpal Bill proposed by the Team Anna or not and the second question will be on whether people should vote for those MPs who have opposed the Bill, Mr. Sisodiya said.

In U.P., the survey will be conducted in the cities of Rae Bareli, Amethi, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Ambedkar Nagar and Mainpuri. In Uttarakhand it will be taken up in Dehradun and Haridwar.

While the constituency of Rae Bareli is represented by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi represents Amethi.

In U.P., the referendums will be supervised by Sanjay Singh, who is a member of the NGO India Against Corruption.

Members of Team Anna will not have any direct role to play in these referendums and the entire process will be monitored by people who were associated with Mr. Hazare’s recent movements, he said.

A similar survey was carried out by Team Anna in July in Union Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal’s constituency of Chandi Chowk where it was claimed that an overwhelming 85 per cent of people had favoured the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Favouring a national referendum on the issue, Mr. Hazare had said the government will have to listen to the voices of people.

Mr. Sibal, who was locked in a war of words with the Team Anna, had ridiculed the survey, saying he was surprised why the support was not 100 per cent.

Meanwhile, a group of auditors have been engaged by the Team Anna to audit the funds and donation collected during Mr. Hazare’s fast in New Delhi last month.