Political Diary

New Delhi, 18 February 2012

Code Of ‘Misconduct’

WHO’s MORAL IN IMMORAL EYES!

By Poonam I Kaushish

In this theekha-masaledar electioneering season our netagan seem to have taken loads of tips from the Idiot Box’s melodrama Queen Ekta Kapoor’s Dirty Picture and produced their own version of silky entertainment: Communal speeches, communal freebies and more communal giveaways! Spiced with the right caste and communal combinations. Swaying to the heady tinkle of money, cheap thrills and seetees. Leading to a deluge of Kolaveri Di!  

If one were to do a post mortem of the no-holds barred electioneering in UP alone the Election Commission’s (EC) Moral Code of Conduct has become the most potent missile in the arsenal of political rivals and jaani dushmans. With none caring a damn for its seven Dos and Don’ts about general conduct, meetings, processions, polling day, polling booth observers and the Party in power. After all, how would their art of double-speak succeed if the preachers of morality were to start practicing it?

The culprits All Parties but most the Congress, that too Ministers who decided to capitalize on the 4.5% minority sub-quota card by upping it to 9% in educational institutions and Government jobs in the State if voted to power. Asserted Union Law and Minorities Minister Salman Khurshid while campaigning for his wife Louise in Farrukhabad, “If the EC wants to hang me they can for committing a quota…I want to stand in the court of the people and ask, 'isn't it the right of the people?”

The confrontation escalated to new heights with the Chief Election Commissioner Qureshi complaining about Khurshid’s “unprecedented defiance” to President Patil. Expressing its “shock” that instead of being remorseful the Minister was “dismissive and utterly contemptuous” and had “undermined the Commission’s authority.” Leaving a red-faced Congress with no option but to ask its ‘lawless’ Minister to back-off.

But matters didn’t end there. The Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma kept the minority quota card stoking by dittoing Khurshid’s promise. “Let the EC charge me,” he thundered. Only to back-track that it “was a slip of tongue”.  

True, the Congress prestige is at stake in UP and it can go to any extent to woo the 18% Muslim community. But does that mean it has the license to defy the EC merely for appeasing a particular community? Given that the Code asserts, “There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. Mosques, churches, temples or other places of worship shall not be used as forum for election propaganda.”

More. Both Khurshid and Verma have violated another Code norm: A Party in power, whether at the Centre or States concerned, shall ensure that no cause is given for any complaint that it used its official position for the purpose of its election campaign.” Since the issue of reservation for minorities comes under Khurshid’s Ministry he is all the more culpable. Also, that offers by those in power sound credible than those in the Opposition.

Sadly, the truth is that the Code is only a voluntary compact arrived between the EC and the Parties and has no statutory binding. With parties and candidates wantonly violating it, the Commission is powerless. Asserted a senior official, “the Code lacks legal sanction and is intended to work as a moral policeman to ensure free and fair elections. We can only freeze a Party’s election symbol or derecognize it as a national Party. Nothing more, nothing less.” In other words one can merrily violate the Code wantonly and yet get elected to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies.

Undeniably, the face-off between the Commission and the Union Ministers has ended but it has sent a wrong message and set a bad precedent. If like the Congress all Parties adopt the same defiant posture and say that the Model Code of Conduct is only an agreement between the EC and the Parties and it does not have any binding effect, the poll process will go haywire and none will abide by the Code. Look at the absurdity. The judge is a Party, the witness is a Party, the accused is Party candidate and the crime is to help the Party win.

Clearly, the time has come to take a good fresh look at the Code of Conduct and recast it. Importantly, there is urgent need to convert the Code into a law with the Commission having the power to take punitive actions. As another EC official confessed, “Presently our power is restricted to poll violations by Parties and cannot always be used. The Commission cannot withdraw the symbol every time.”

On individual candidates who violate the Code, the Commission could think of imposition of monetary penalty, disqualification and in an extreme case countermanding the election. Unacceptable behaviour by the netagan should be adversely publicized and the Government and Parties should publicly reprimand its candidate. But first we have to give more teeth to the Commission. Notwithstanding, that the Code might never become law as there are too many political interests aligned against it.

Significantly, the current system shows us how inefficient and incapable our system in ensuring free and fair elections.  Our polity and Parties needs to remember that the EC is a Constitutional body and its strictures deserve to be treated with greater respect.  Our netas have a responsibility to conform to the letter and spirit of the Model Code. The issue is not Khurshid, Verma and X,Y,Z, but more critical that people occupying posts of responsibility should speak responsibly.

Importantly, India is today at the moral crossroads. A long and hard battle lies ahead for bringing a change in the political system and the present political ethos. Political morality and accountability are paramount for good governance and stability. There is no place for damn lies and deceit in a genuine democracy.

At the end of the day, it matters little who wins the elections as we the people are the ultimate losers. As the system, Government, politicians and politics, everything is gamed to deprive the aam janata of a better life.  India’s voters must not allow themselves to be taken for granted any more. They must demand that electoral reforms be implemented to make our democracy truly representative.

Stop voting for the shameless, self-serving netas who are pushing the country increasingly towards a feudal democracy interspersed with more and more of communalism and casteism. Leaving India dangerously communal, but the political Parties and their leaders hypocritically secular! What gives? ----- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)