NEW DELHI: On Monday, Team Anna released the results of a "referendum" carried out by it on the Lokpal Bill in the constituency of HRD minister Kapil Sibal, Chandni Chowk. An overwhelming 85% of respondents, they claimed, preferred the Jan Lokpal Bill - or the one drafted by civil society members - to the government version.
Hogwash, said the Congress, claiming that the referendum was done only among BJP supporters in Chandni Chowk. Sibal himself was dripping sarcasm - he thanked Team Anna for not giving itself a 100% in favour. TOI decided to find out whether the referendum really reflected the popular mood and decided to do a poll itself on the net.
And the results were stunningly similar to Team Anna's referendum. As many as 24,499 netizens responded to the poll and there was near unanimity that the PM, MPs, the judiciary and all levels of the bureaucracy should be under the purview of the proposed Lokpal.
'Lokpal should cover all babus'
While it's difficult to tell how many of the respondents know the exact proposals of the two drafts of the Bill, it's clear that the government's credibility is low and Team Anna's high. On the question of whether the Lokpal should cover all bureaucrats rather than just Group A officers, 97% said 'yes'.
The same proportion asserted that if a citizen's work is not done on time, fines must be imposed on the guilty officer. An equally impressive 94% felt the conduct of MPs in Parliament should be covered by the Lokpal's brief.
Set against those numbers, the 86% who said the PM should be covered by the Lokpal and the 84% who felt the judiciary should also come under it seems almost anti-climactic. The message, however, remains clear - the Lokpal must have teeth and the breadth of jurisdiction to be effective. The winner of the perception battle is clearly the Gandhian and his mates.
That's a massive vote of no-confidence in the government version of the Bill and a clear endorsement of the views of Team Anna.
Hogwash, said the Congress, claiming that the referendum was done only among BJP supporters in Chandni Chowk. Sibal himself was dripping sarcasm - he thanked Team Anna for not giving itself a 100% in favour. TOI decided to find out whether the referendum really reflected the popular mood and decided to do a poll itself on the net.
And the results were stunningly similar to Team Anna's referendum. As many as 24,499 netizens responded to the poll and there was near unanimity that the PM, MPs, the judiciary and all levels of the bureaucracy should be under the purview of the proposed Lokpal.
'Lokpal should cover all babus'
While it's difficult to tell how many of the respondents know the exact proposals of the two drafts of the Bill, it's clear that the government's credibility is low and Team Anna's high. On the question of whether the Lokpal should cover all bureaucrats rather than just Group A officers, 97% said 'yes'.
The same proportion asserted that if a citizen's work is not done on time, fines must be imposed on the guilty officer. An equally impressive 94% felt the conduct of MPs in Parliament should be covered by the Lokpal's brief.
Set against those numbers, the 86% who said the PM should be covered by the Lokpal and the 84% who felt the judiciary should also come under it seems almost anti-climactic. The message, however, remains clear - the Lokpal must have teeth and the breadth of jurisdiction to be effective. The winner of the perception battle is clearly the Gandhian and his mates.
That's a massive vote of no-confidence in the government version of the Bill and a clear endorsement of the views of Team Anna.
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