Joginder Singh
Of the 543 Members of Parliament, the Lok Sabha 2004 had 120 MPs with criminal records. Among the major parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had 29 MPs with criminal record, the Congress 24, the Samajwadi Party (SP) 11, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) eight, the Communist Part of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) seven, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) seven, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) five, the Communist Party of India (CPI) two and Independents 27. Six MPs won while in prison. The only manifesto or criterion for selection of a candidate is winnability.
In the general elections of 1996, the Election Commission had seized illegal arms which included 2,000 guns, 11,000 cartridges, 175 explosives and 57,000 bombs. Of the 13,952 candidates who contested, nearly 1,500 had criminal records, almost 700 MLAs out of 4,722 in the country were involved in criminal cases, and trial was pending against them. This issue figured prominently during the special session of Parliament held in August 1997 and it was unanimously agreed to carry out meaningful electoral reforms. But the situation has remained unchanged. Unfortunately, you cannot call any political party an honourable exception in the fight against criminalization of politics. Indeed the rejected lot of one political party are welcomed by others as long as they can win elections. Elections now are all about how much money one can spend.
According to a conservative estimate, Rs 10,000 crore will be spent in conducting the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, a big chunk of which will go unaccounted. In the last Karnataka Assembly election, the Election Commission had seized Rs 45.5 crore worth of liquor and other goodies.
The tendency to purchase votes by doling out money to voters is on the rise as many instances of the same have been videotaped and telecast. It is worthwhile to examine the trends of the Assembly elections held in 2008.
Of 69 MLAs (total is 70) elected to the Delhi Assembly, 46 are millionaires with assets of more than Rs 1 crore. In Delhi, out of 42 candidates with over Rs 5 crore of declared assets, 13 candidates have managed to get elected. However, of 198 candidates with assets less than Rs 5 lakh, not one could make it to the Assembly. Of the 91 tainted candidates who contested elections in Delhi, 27 are now legislators.
In the present 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly, there are just six newly-elected MLAs with declared assets of less than Rs 5 lakh. In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram, the number of MLAs in this category is five, six and zero respectively.
The single-most powerful factor in politics today is privilege and corruption. The office of MP and MLA provides immunity from the law and that is why convicted criminals, which include a film actor and half-a-dozen others, including some MPs, who have been convicted, have been so keen to join the election fray this time. The hurdle in their way to the Lok Sabha is Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People’s Act of 1951 that stipulates that any person convicted for a crime and sentenced to more than two years of jail term is not eligible to contest elections till six years after completion of his sentence.
This can be overcome by approaching the Supreme Court if the conviction was by an anti-terror court or by a high court in other cases. With criminalization, the principle of sticking to one’s party has taken a back seat in Uttar Pradesh wherein the only criteria for handing out party tickets is the assurance of winnability. All the turncoats and deserters from other parties have been accommodated, apart from some well-known history-sheeters. The list has as many as 40 people out of 80, who have some criminal case against them.
There is no doubt that other political parties might turn out to be no different though they may vary in degrees. Probably others would put up matching candidates and, if possible, people with bigger criminal records.
In this situation, people are left with no option except to refrain or cast vote for one of the history-sheeters sponsored by the political parties contesting elections or go for their caste-man irrespective of suitability or acceptability. It happened recently when some villagers went to the residence of the most important political leader of a right-wing party, protesting the denial of ticket to their caste-man. Of course, all such protests are sponsored or managed.
Opportunism has shaken the confidence of most of the people in democracy. Winston Churchill once said, ‘‘Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.’’
The point is that the onus lies on each voter to strengthen the foundations of our democracy. Bad rulers are elected when good citizens do not vote. There can be no strong democracy without a class of strong-minded and interested citizens. After all, we must remember that the ballot in the long run proves stronger than the bullet (read the last J&K elections).
At the same time we must also remember that election is a device which ensures that we shall be governed no better than we deserve. Therefore, our vote — our choice — is crucial to the course of our democracy. (ADNI)
Of the 543 Members of Parliament, the Lok Sabha 2004 had 120 MPs with criminal records. Among the major parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had 29 MPs with criminal record, the Congress 24, the Samajwadi Party (SP) 11, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) eight, the Communist Part of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) seven, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) seven, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) five, the Communist Party of India (CPI) two and Independents 27. Six MPs won while in prison. The only manifesto or criterion for selection of a candidate is winnability.
In the general elections of 1996, the Election Commission had seized illegal arms which included 2,000 guns, 11,000 cartridges, 175 explosives and 57,000 bombs. Of the 13,952 candidates who contested, nearly 1,500 had criminal records, almost 700 MLAs out of 4,722 in the country were involved in criminal cases, and trial was pending against them. This issue figured prominently during the special session of Parliament held in August 1997 and it was unanimously agreed to carry out meaningful electoral reforms. But the situation has remained unchanged. Unfortunately, you cannot call any political party an honourable exception in the fight against criminalization of politics. Indeed the rejected lot of one political party are welcomed by others as long as they can win elections. Elections now are all about how much money one can spend.
According to a conservative estimate, Rs 10,000 crore will be spent in conducting the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, a big chunk of which will go unaccounted. In the last Karnataka Assembly election, the Election Commission had seized Rs 45.5 crore worth of liquor and other goodies.
The tendency to purchase votes by doling out money to voters is on the rise as many instances of the same have been videotaped and telecast. It is worthwhile to examine the trends of the Assembly elections held in 2008.
Of 69 MLAs (total is 70) elected to the Delhi Assembly, 46 are millionaires with assets of more than Rs 1 crore. In Delhi, out of 42 candidates with over Rs 5 crore of declared assets, 13 candidates have managed to get elected. However, of 198 candidates with assets less than Rs 5 lakh, not one could make it to the Assembly. Of the 91 tainted candidates who contested elections in Delhi, 27 are now legislators.
In the present 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly, there are just six newly-elected MLAs with declared assets of less than Rs 5 lakh. In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram, the number of MLAs in this category is five, six and zero respectively.
The single-most powerful factor in politics today is privilege and corruption. The office of MP and MLA provides immunity from the law and that is why convicted criminals, which include a film actor and half-a-dozen others, including some MPs, who have been convicted, have been so keen to join the election fray this time. The hurdle in their way to the Lok Sabha is Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People’s Act of 1951 that stipulates that any person convicted for a crime and sentenced to more than two years of jail term is not eligible to contest elections till six years after completion of his sentence.
This can be overcome by approaching the Supreme Court if the conviction was by an anti-terror court or by a high court in other cases. With criminalization, the principle of sticking to one’s party has taken a back seat in Uttar Pradesh wherein the only criteria for handing out party tickets is the assurance of winnability. All the turncoats and deserters from other parties have been accommodated, apart from some well-known history-sheeters. The list has as many as 40 people out of 80, who have some criminal case against them.
There is no doubt that other political parties might turn out to be no different though they may vary in degrees. Probably others would put up matching candidates and, if possible, people with bigger criminal records.
In this situation, people are left with no option except to refrain or cast vote for one of the history-sheeters sponsored by the political parties contesting elections or go for their caste-man irrespective of suitability or acceptability. It happened recently when some villagers went to the residence of the most important political leader of a right-wing party, protesting the denial of ticket to their caste-man. Of course, all such protests are sponsored or managed.
Opportunism has shaken the confidence of most of the people in democracy. Winston Churchill once said, ‘‘Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.’’
The point is that the onus lies on each voter to strengthen the foundations of our democracy. Bad rulers are elected when good citizens do not vote. There can be no strong democracy without a class of strong-minded and interested citizens. After all, we must remember that the ballot in the long run proves stronger than the bullet (read the last J&K elections).
At the same time we must also remember that election is a device which ensures that we shall be governed no better than we deserve. Therefore, our vote — our choice — is crucial to the course of our democracy. (ADNI)
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