Author: T. V. R. Shenoy
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: April 8, 2004
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=44606
Introduction: Politics was once
a mission. Will we see it become a commodity?
The Election Commission occasionally
gives the impression of being all-powerful at election time. It orders
the revenue officers to conduct search-and-seize operations at airports.
It will set up a Censor Board of its own to ensure that political advertisements
don't cross the line. These are novel interpretations of its powers under
the Constitution, but I think most Indians would back the Election Commission.
(Personally, I think, it is a pity some of its funkier ideas - such as
including a "None of the above" option on ballot papers and EVMs could
not be carried out due to lack of consensus and time. Perhaps in 2009!)
However, there are some areas where
the Election Commission is more or less helpless. Try as it might to curb
the influence of money on elections, there is simply no way it can rein
in one particular form of abuse - the selling of party tickets. If the
disgruntled office-bearers of the Congress are to be believed, party tickets
are being sold for hard cash in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
It was the act of washing this particular
piece of linen in public that has led to Sarat Chandra Prasad being suspended
from the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee. If we are to give credence
to his complaint, the Congress has adopted a money-raising tactic once
made famous by the "donation colleges" of the country! These have three
categories of seats for students - namely a merit quota, a management quota,
and a payment quota. Prasad says that the Congress has taken this one step
further by removing the merit quota altogether!
The same allegation has been levelled
in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, where the Congress has been allotted 10 constituencies
as part of the DMK-led electoral alliance. The difference between Kerala
and Tamil Nadu is that in the latter it is allegedly AICC members who are
involved, not just regional satraps.
The situation is not quite that
bad in Karnataka. But many leaders -including ministers in the S.M. Krishna
administration - grumble that some people were trying to buy "safe" seats.
This attempt met severe resistance, not least because the stakes are so
much higher for the Congress in Karnataka than in either Tamil Nadu or
Kerala. For one, the party needs to put up a fight in 28 constituencies,
not just in the 17 seats it is contesting in Kerala and the 10 it is contesting
in Tamil Nadu. For another, both the Assembly and the Lok Sabha seats are
up for grabs. For a third, in Karnataka, the Congress has - unlike in the
other states - no allies. Finally, conventional wisdom has it that Karnataka
offers the BJP its best chance of winning seats in south India. All this
meant that the Congress leaders in Karnataka could afford to be just a
little more determined about ticket distribution.
Was there anything more to all this
than mere allegation? I believe there was some substance to it judging
by the reaction of the Congress High Command. Sonia Gandhi tried to intervene
in Kerala; Kamal Nath, the AICC officer in charge of Tamil Nadu, made it
a point to keep away from selection. (Given the state of the party in Madhya
Pradesh, Kamal Nath was probably grateful for any excuse to spend a little
more time in his own state!)
Going back to Sarat Chandra Prasad,
his motives, his credibility, and his timing, have been called into question.
But a glance at the Congress panel is prima facie evidence that the management
quota is a fact of life whether or not the "paid seats" exist.
The Karunakaran clan has been given
its due in exchange for leaving A.K. Antony alone. The patriarch has been
elected to the Rajya Sabha. Muraleedharan, the son, has been given a seat
in the Antony ministry. The MLA who surrendered his seat for Muraleedharan
will be contesting on the Congress ticket from Calicut (which Muraleedharan
had won in 1999). Padmaja, Karunakaran's daughter, has been given a ticket
to the Lok Sabha.
It doesn't stop there. Karunakaran
has had his say in the Ernakulam and Idukki seats. He has chosen Christians
- one each from the Catholic and the Orthodox sects. (One of them is a
complete novice whose sole qualification seems to be his family connections
to a bishop.) It is rumoured to be a barter, with both men asking their
respective communities to vote in favour of Padmaja.
There is unrest in the Kerala unit
over the candidates from Kollam and Kasargode. The candidate in Kasargode
is a wealthy businessman who lives in Bangalore. Interestingly, his son
is said to be standing - also on a Congress ticket - from Karnataka. But
there is really no proof that any money changed hands in either of these
selections, just a lot of snide remarks by possibly disgruntled party workers.
The management quota has become
such a familiar component of Indian politics that it has been accepted
as the norm. (Think of the Nehru-Gandhis, the extended - and extensive
- Laloo Prasad Yadav clan, Karunanidhi and Co, and so on.) But this "payment
quota", assuming it exists, is a new factor altogether.
Once upon a time, politics was a
mission. Later, it became a profession. Will we live to see it become a
mere commodity? Will membership in Parliament become just another item
in the jewellery-box?
The Election Commission is helpless
to act in these matters given that these are the internal affairs of a
party. In the final analysis, the only one who can do something to nip
the evil in the bud is the ultimate guardian of democracy - the voter.
