Time to end the ‘aya Ram, gaya Ram’ culture

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Time to end the ‘aya Ram, gaya Ram’ culture

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 | Kalyani Shankar

There are many reports on electoral reforms that are lying with the Govt and these must be implemented. But for this, a strong political will is needed

Elections for 24 Rajya Sabha seats, spread across 10 States, will be held on June 19. These biennial polls are crucial for both the BJP and the Opposition. Rajya Sabha members are indirectly elected by MLAs of State Assemblies and the political parties win seats according to their strength in the Assembly.

The BJP is moving towards a workable majority in the Rajya Sabha where the Congress-led Opposition had an upper hand till now, owing to its numerical strength. Because of this, it was able to block a number of Bills and controversial laws that the Government wanted to pass.

 Dominating both the Houses is essential for the Narendra Modi Government to complete its core agenda. While the Prime Minister has strengthened himself by winning a larger number of seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls than it did in the 2014 elections, the majority is still eluding the BJP in the House of Elders.

Emboldened by his Government’s success in the second term, the Prime Minister would have pushed through his party’s agenda like the Uniform Civil Code, population regulation measures and so on had not the deadly Coronavirus hit the country and the world.

The NDA needs 122 for a majority in a 245-member House and currently the ruling party is functioning with the support of  regional parties from the South and  Eastern India. Fearing the Government’s investigating agencies, vulnerable leaders facing cases like Mulayam Singh, Mayawati and so on,  have also reluctantly supported  controversial Bills like the Triple Talaaq, repeal of Article 370 and so on in the past. The BJP’s game of “divide the Opposition” has worked well for the Government. Most crucial Bills were passed in the last one year due to lack of Opposition unity. So, why are these biennial elections important? It is the Upper House that enables the Government to get smooth transaction of business done if it has the majority. Every new seat counts. The BJP is very close to the goal of obtaining majority but the pace is quite slow. In the forthcoming polls, both the Congress and the BJP may win some seats and lose others.

Smaller parties like the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Left outfits are slowly fading away in the Rajya Sabha.

Other regional parties like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), YSRCP (Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party), the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and others have gained more ground.

Currently, the BJP is the single- largest party in the Rajya Sabha with 75 seats, followed by 39 of the Congress, 13 of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), nine each of the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD), eight of the SP, seven each of the TRS and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), five each of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), four each of the BSP and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), three each of the Shiv Sena, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and so on. With allies, the AIADMK, the JD (U), SAD, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the Bodoland People’s Front (BDF), Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) and the Republican Party of India (A), the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is at 104, including three nominated MPs and four Independents, which support it.

The BJP has also made some artificial gains by luring Congress leaders like Sanjay Singh and Neeraj Shekhar, thereby reducing the strength of the Congress in the Upper House. The real challenge for the Opposition is the lack of floor coordination to take on the Treasury Benches.

What is worrying is the trend of using defection for winning the Rajya Sabha seats. Look at what is happening in Gujarat. Close to the polls last week, three Congress MLAs resigned even as the Congress accused the BJP of poaching on its legislators.

The Congress has taken them to resorts and kept them in a camp. After the resignation of the three MLAs, the Congress Party’s strength in the 182-member Assembly is now only 65. The resignations will hurt the Congress’ prospects of winning the second seat.  Unfortunately, this defection game has become the norm in the last few years with legislators. This is not the spirit of the Constitution or the anti-defection laws passed by the Parliament. In fact, the law came about in order to put an end to the “aya Ram, gaya Ram” (here today, gone tomorrow) culture and to preserve the party system.  But in practice it is misused. 

The MPs themselves make laws and then defy them as per their convenience, as we have seen many times. People elect MPs to represent them in Parliament but after getting chosen they try to change parties for personal gains. This defection game is played out often and this time, too, there will be no exceptions.

The electorate needs to check this kind of political culture. Legislators, who act in unscrupulous ways, should be voted out in subsequent elections. The anti-defection law needs to be looked into again by the lawmakers and reformed. There should be a provision to recall the elected representatives.

In short, there is need for electoral reforms on many things including transparency in funding and so on. There are many reports on electoral reforms that are lying with the Government and these must be implemented. But for this, a strong  political will is needed.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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