ELECTIONS TO RAJYA SABHA - ACTIONS OF EC

The elections to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat for three seats had just been concluded with all the drama and money and political power in display.  ON seeing the way in which the ruling party and the main opposition party in the parliament went about the recently concluded elections in Gujarat for the three RS seats leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. The conduct of the "neutral body" of election commission leaves a lot to be desired.

Wind back to the bye-election to the lone assembly seat R K Nagar in TN where from the former CM was the elected member which became vacant due to her sudden and untimely demise.  The elections were announced within the stipulated period and the parties had already spent a considerable amount of money in campaign; the state also had spent money on preparing the election material, getting the officers for the election booths, getting required safety arrangement in place etc.  Thanks to the IT raid on the premises of a key minister in the ministry saw that there was some evidence of money being spent on the electorate for voting; nothing was conclusive but was more an allegation.  The election was deferred in the last minute a day before the voting day.  The EC took cognizance of the IT raid and sought report from a special officer sent from its HQ to TN for getting a neutral view of the entire episode of "cash for votes".  Now the proposed election had been postponed, the voters in the constituency do not know when the next election will be held, if at all. They had been deprived of their voice in the assembly for the considerable length of time till such a time a representative is elected and he assumes office in the legislative assembly.  It is altogether a different matter most of the elected members remain just mute spectators when a senior member or a minister speaks and most of them shy away to speak in the assembly or the parliament. 

There was unconfirmed reports of one of the senior most members of the GOP from Gujarat being thrown out of the party for some vague reasons and next day there was news that he had resigned from the party.   A few others followed which was a natural corollary in politics as a senior leader has his own following both within and without the legislature.  This was a back breaking development for the GOP in Gujarat.  The GOP in the guise of safeguarding its remaining flock in the assembly, took the remaining legislators to Karnataka to house,wine and dine them in a golf resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru on the Mysore highway.   Soon after this the VP of GOP visited Gujar on the pretext of surveying the flood hit areas.  Much more water has flown down the river Sabarmati about this visit of the VVIP to Gujarat.  A raid by the ITD on various premises owned by a minister in Karnataka and the golf resort revealed that there had been massive money hoarding and benami properties owned by the minister. The ITD reportedly seized close to Rs. 300 crores from various residences of the minister and several other documents of property owned on his behalf by others. The ITD also took charge of the diary which the minister was trying to shred and reconstructed the pages.  From the news that was leaking out, it was found that there had been large scale corruption not only for the personal benefit of the minister but for the GOP itself. There were reports of money changing hands to the legislators who were cloistered in the golf resort.  This was akin to the allegation of the legislators owing allegiance to a particular faction in TN getting cooped in a resort outside Chennai being promised a few crores cash and a few kilograms of gold.  Based on the documents seized in the raid in the TN minister's house, the VIP candidate was arrested by the CBI and later let out on bail.

The ruling front in the Central government had a stake in the election going through as scheduled since a minister in the government was one of the contestants.  If not elected within the time schedule, she may lose her portfolio. It is another matter that she continue to hold the portfolio for six months within which she has to get elected to one of the houses in the parliament.  The other heavy weight (pun intended) was the President of the ruling party in the center whose prestige was at stake. Therefore, despite lots of similarities in the two elections,one a bye-election to the state legislature and another to the Rajya Sabha from the state of Gujarat, the EC took two differing views.  That is why the actions of the EC has left a lot to be desired.  IN the case of Gujarat RS election also, there was allegation of cash for votes though the electorate is limited to the legislators. The IT raid in a totally different state brought out documents of cash being used to influence the voting.  The raid also brought out a huge cache of liquid cash being unearthed by the ITD which turned out to be unaccounted.  The similarities between the IT raid on the TN minister's residence and the Karanatka minister's residence is striking.  IN both the places the documents seized revealed cash being paid to the voters for electing a particular person.   But the EC took two different approaches to deal with the two issues of similar nature. They sent a neutral observer to study the ground reality and report in case of TN; on the basis of the report they cancelled the election in the proverbial 11th hour. In case of Gujarat they allowed the election to go through and allowed the candidates and their parties to contest post election in the process followed and question the votes.  It is a smear on the unblemished record of the EC as a constitutional authority for so long a time.

If EC had acted with the alacrity in the case of RS elections in Gujarat as it did in TN,what would have happened?  The minister of I&B would have become a non member and the strength of the ruling party in RS would have reduced.  The GOP would have lost its trusted lieutenant in the RS.  The post election drama that was enacted withholding the counting claiming that two votes were invalid etc. would not have happened.  The principles of democracy might have been saved. The EC, as it is in the case of other central agencies, though an independent constitutional authority lost its sheen in this episode and has given rise to many supporters of GOP to claim it is also a caged bird and the CEC is chosen by the PM.