Rewind
New Delhi, 20 March 2021
NEW ALARUM OVER FUTURE POLLS
By Inder Jit
(Released on 29 March 1985)
His words still ring in my ears, loud and
clear. “Our elections have become a farce”, asserted a veteran Congress-I
leader from Bihar in Parliament’s Central Hall last week. No, he was not
joking. Added the leader: “Your triumph depended this time not upon your
popularity with the voters but upon other factors. First, your ability to
capture the polling booths. Second and more important, your equation with the
Presiding Officer and the District Magistrate”. I interrupted: “This could not
have been the rule…” the State leader pointed to an MP from Bihar and said:
“Ask him”. “Yes, it is true”, said the MP and added: “My good friend, in
future, we need to woo and win over the Presiding Officer and the DM only, not
the voters”. We were then given sordid details, which made us sit up. Private
armies had been raised and ruthlessly used. Even firearms and explosives were
used. I protested again: “Surely, you cannot generalize?” “The leader smiled
cynically and replied. “Arre bhai, you wait and watch. Once the people
in other states also become wise, the poll will become a bigger farce. The old
adage still holds: Jiski lathi uski bhains (Might is right).”
Authoritative information provided to the Lok
Sabha on the subject during question time a day later should make all of us
ponder. Some of the states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have experienced
violence before. But this time, as in Bihar, the scale of violence was more
widespread, resulting in more casualties. Free use of the gun as against free
exercise of the right to vote led to a greater incidence of booth capturing. In
all, 131 persons were murdered or killed in poll violence during the Lok Sabha
and Assembly elections. As in the past, Bihar topped the list with 28 persons
killed in the elections to the Lok Sabha and 51 in those to the Assembly.
Andhra Pradesh followed with 7 killed during the Lok Sabha poll and 21 in the
Assembly elections. In UP, another state prone to violence, the number was six
each. There were cases of sporadic violence and poll murders in Kerala 4,
Maharashtra 5, Gujarat 2 and Haryana 1. Bihar had the highest number of cases
of booth capturing --- 155, UP, followed with 38, Jammu and Kashmir 30 and
Andhra Pradesh 29, to mention the bigger states only.
Violence in these states erupted in spite of
the deployment of greater number of security forces by the Election Commission
to prevent booth capturing. Free use of sticks and guns was made in rural areas
of these states to intimidate the voters and the election staff on duty. In
Bihar, unlicensed fire arms and explosives were used. This was despite the raids
conducted for recovery of such weapons and ammunition. The weapons seized
during the raids were 36 country made revolvers, 148 pistols, 14 rifles, 83
guns, 1185 cartridges and 174 bombs. The UP government reported to the Centre
that no definite figures were available about the use of unlicensed arms.
However, 22 factory-made weapons were seized during the Lok Sabha elections and
18 in the Assembly poll. Anti-social elements still went ahead with their evil
designs…. In many cases, there was collusion between the candidates and the
Presiding Officers leading to mass rigging. Not unforeseen, ballot boxes were
stuffed with marked ballot papers in the preceding night itself --- or just
before polling was over.
Not only that. An alarum has also been sounded
by the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr R.K. Trivedi. In Bangalore last week, he
said that recent experience had shown that the most important problem that
threatened to assume alarming proportions related to growing lawlessness either
in the form of intimidation or coercion of voters or booth capturing.
Fortunately, the problem at present was restricted only to one or two states
and that, too, in certain limited areas, he added. But the type of violence which
was reported and the limit of tolerance displayed by the parties and the public
in general showed that it would be necessary to go into their root causes. Time
had come to create a climate of security where respect for law and authority
was reestablished. These would require long-term measures. In the short-term,
there was need to break the nexus between lower level political functionaries
and local malcontents and criminals on the one hand and to eliminate political
interference in the working of the district administration responsible for the
maintenance of law and order on the other.
The Chief Election Commissioner also said a
major offensive was needed to be mounted by the political parties themselves to
rid the electoral process of this growing menace. The political parties, he
felt, should get together to arrive at a consensus to deal with this problem on
the moral, legal and administrative planes. At present the law prevented a
convict from contesting an election. But some further provisions needed to be
made to keep out the social malcontents with a proven record of a shady past.
Those whose detentions had been approved by the judicial advisory boards could
also be kept out of the polls. He suggested summary trials for those resorting
to violence during electioneering including disturbing election meetings on
pains of disqualification subject to conviction. All these would have their
effect. But the important thing was “for society to demonstrate its strongest
abhorrence against political violence and express its preference for peaceful elections
through democratic means.”
There is no gainsaying the fact that violence
is very much in the air today and steps are urgently needed to contain and
tackle it. But we have to devote our attention from now onwards to ensure that
it does not vitiate what the founding fathers of the Constitution gave us: a
free and fair poll. Mr Trivedi, for his part, also put forward his own remedy
at Bangalore. He said the Election Commission had suggested to the Government
that it should be given powers to cancel the poll in an entire constituency if
it is satisfied that large scale booth capturing, coercion or intimidation has
taken place. On the face of it, the proposal is unexceptionable and is certain
to win the approval of all right thinking people. Tragically, however, Mr.
Trivedi seems to be blissfully unaware of his own powers. The Chief Election
Commissioner already has powers not only to order a repoll anywhere but also to
ensure that those who conduct the poll act honourably and impartially, as
decisively shown by his predecessor, Mr. S.L. Shakdher, in the case of the
controversial Garhwal poll to the Lok Sabha in June 1980 and in the elections
to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly from Bihar the same year.
Mr. Shakdher was well aware of the tendency
in Bihar to indulge in coercion and intimidation of voters and, above all, in
booth capturing. (In an earlier election, for instance, one senior Congress-I
M.P. was able to win from Bihar because he was able to capture 50 more booths
than his rival. In another case, a defeated candidate told me: “I lost because
I had one gun less!”) Mr. Shakdher was also aware of the tendency among the
Presiding Officers and District Magistrate to oblige friends at the poll ---
actively or by feigning helplessness. But he tackled the problem through a
simple, practical device. He firmly told all Presiding Officers and District
Magistrates to conduct themselves correctly and fairly and warned them in so
many words: “I shall personally write the CRs of all in regard to their conduct
of the poll. There will be a good entry in the case of those who do really well
--- and an adverse entry against those…..” the threat worked. In the case of
Garhwal, Mr. Shakdher asserted his independence and ordered a repoll once he
discovered that outside police force had been inducted into the constituency
without his knowledge and had vitiated a free and fair poll.
The power of the Election Commission in
regard to three matters --- superintendence, direction and control --- is
absolute and cannot be questioned by anyone. (Not many remember that these
three words were deliberately and advisedly picked by the Founding Fathers from
Article 14 of the Government of India Act of 1935 – a key article designed to
give the Secretary of State absolute power to supervise, direct and control the
functioning of the Governor General of India, who was authorized even to act
“in his discretion” and “exercise his individual judgement. In fact, the
Supreme Court has already held that the power of the Commission in the superintendence,
direction and control is unfettered and over-riding. Parliament has, no doubt,
been empowered to legislate on certain aspects of the elections, such as making
provision with respect to elections to legislatures. But the crucial point here
is this: all such legislation is subject to the absolute power accorded to the
Election Commission to conduct a free and fair poll.
In practice, the three words ---
superintendence, direction and control --- also give the Election Commission
two vital far-reaching rights; to virtually legislate and to be informed. The
Chief Election Commissioner is empowered to legislate through “direction”,
implement the legislation though “superintendence” and interpret the
legislation through “control”. Every little detail in regard to the conduct of
elections comes under his overall control, direction and superintendence through
Section (6) of Article 324 of the Constitution, which provides: “The President,
or the Governor of a State, shall, when so requested by the Election
Commission, make available to the Election Commission or to a Regional
Commissioner such staff as may be necessary for the discharge of the functions
conferred on the Election Commission by clause (1).” (italics mine) the word
staff does not mean merely officials or clerks of the state. The word embraces
everyone under the umbrella of either the centre or the state government,
including the police and the army.
The Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, has
promised a further package of electoral reforms, having amended the Constitution
to ban defections. But legislation by itself will not do. We have also to deal
with the crucial human factor. India’s Constitution is basically sound. It has
given the Chief Election Commissioner all the power he needs to ensure that a
poll is not only free and fair but also without fear. What is required are
right men in right places to work it --- and to exercise the power fairly and
impartially. Mr. Trivedi is right when he urges that steps must be taken to
eliminate political interference in the working of the district administration
responsible for the maintenance of law and order. There can be no two opinions
that the clear line between the state and government has tended to get blurred
in recent elections in some states and needs to be restored. Ultimately,
India’s ability to meet effectively the new threat of increasing poll violence
will depend upon the ability of the Chief Election Commissioner to function
fearlessly and independently.--- INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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