Team Anna 'referendum' on Jan Lokpal in Sonia's constituency

NEW DELHI: Stepping up pressure on lawmakers, Team Anna would conduct surveys to assess public perception on Jan Lokpal Bill in Amethi and Rae Bareli, pocketborough of Nehru-Gandhi family, and other prominent parliamentary constituencies of UP and Uttarakhand ahead of 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 Sisodiya said here.

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

In UP, the survey will be conduct in the cities of Rae Bareli, Amethi, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Ambedkar Nagar and Mainpuri. In Uttaranchal it will be done in Dehradun and Haridwar.

While the constituency of Rae Bareli is represented by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi has contested election from Amethi parliamentary constituency.

In UP, 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 Hazare's recent movements, he said.

A similar survey was carried out by Team Anna in July in HRD 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, Anna Hazare had said said the government will have to listen to the voices of people.

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

Meanwhile, a groups of auditors have been engaged by Team Anna to audit the funds and donation collected during Hazar's fast here last month at Ramleela Ground.