The latest verdict of Supreme Court should be warm welcomed as a initiative towards cleaning up the electoral system. SC has ruled out that all convicted parliamentary leaders and legislators will be disqualified from holding public office with immediate effect. But, unsurprisingly, parties are gearing up to encounter the ruling on the baseless ground that the ruling interferes with the elected procedure to the extent that it narrows down the list of nominees that parties can pick to contest elections.
Politicians
are the icon of the society. They represents the nation or state for the
society. They should not have a criminal past or present. But in india, the
facts may shock many of us. Out of 543 loksabha seats 162 members of Parliament
have criminal charges against them. Seventy-six of them face serious charges
comprising murder and rape. The scenario is even worse in state legislative
assemblies and councils. According to election watchdogs Association for
Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch (NEW), of the 4,896
lawmakers—members of Parliament and legislators—who voted for the presidential
election last year, 1,448 faced criminal charges. In their affidavits before
the Election Commission earlier, 641 had cited serious charges such as
kidnapping, extortion, murder and rape.
Politics and
crime should be sea distance, and courts would not be intervening to curb
criminals from becoming politicians and vice versa. But let’s face the truth.
Politics in our country is much more multifarious. It does not render itself
easily to idealistic propositions. Courts may be successful in keeping
criminals out of representative institutions, but they cannot keep them out of
politics. At the ground level reality where politics plays out rough and dirty,
both worlds have a synergetic existence.
In our country, political parties
need criminals as much the criminals need the former. At the ground level, inclusion
of political impact and power takes place through violence. Politics is truly
violent and bloodthirsty in villages of our country. We know of the fights
between the Congress cadre and left in
Kerala stretching for generations, between the Trinamool Congress and the left in
West Bengal, Congress and political rivals in some states and betwen Sangh
Parivar elements and the Congress in others. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the
top in list who made their name for nonterminating violence. There’s simply no
sense in pointing out any special party or state. The fact is such violence is inherent
to our political culture.
India
needs a complete change up in its electoral politics. It drives even without
saying. Since the political class won’t wield the broom to clean its own mess,
the effort has to come from the courts. The Supreme Court’s verdict on
convicted lawmakers is laudable indeed. The only question arises is why it took
so long, this judgment should have come just after the independence.
The primitive nature of our
politics at the ground level is the reason parties either outsource toughs and
ensure safeguard for themselves while being in power, or they promote them
in-house. Now, if political violence is a actual crime, I don’t think any party
can claim to be free of violence or criminal party. That being the case, does
the Supreme Court landmark verdict really sufficient? The association between
politicians and criminals will be continue in spite of this. The benefit for
the parties is they can plead helplessness when goons seek party tickets. But
they will need to reimburse in other ways.
Interestingly,
the ruling court gave a reprieve to existing parliamentarians and legislators
from having to step down even if they have been convicted of serious crimes –
so long as they have proffered appeals.
The judges
ruled:
“Sitting
members of Parliament and State Legislature who have already been convicted for
any of the offences mentioned in… Section 8 of the Act and who have filed
appeals or revisions which are pending and are accordingly saved from the
disqualifications… should not, in our considered opinion, be affected by the
declaration now made by us in this judgment.”
The
ultimate test of the efficiency of “landmark verdict” is whether it will
advance the project to clean up the electoral system. On that count,
however, there is cause for looking the ruling with some sobriety. That
enterprise requires a more broadbased
reform of electoral laws, which today puts those with influence power and money
power’ at a distinct benefit, comes at election time.
The
court’s judgment is a enjoyable step for a good electoral system but needed
a lot more verdicts from SC for a crime
free political system. Don’t be astonished if political parties find a way.
