CONsensus
Recently there occurred two instances
in which all the political parties of the country which are having different
ideologies have come to consensus. These consensuses have been reached without
much discussions or difficulties.
I feel quite surprised when all the
parties having different ideologies come to a consensus (agreement) easily on
any matter. There are many issues pending with the govt without consensus viz.,
Lokpal, Food Security Bill, FDI issues, NCTC and so on. But recently all the
parties have come to consensus on two issues.
The first issue is regarding the Chief
Information Commissioner’s (CIC) Order stating that the political parties
should come under the ambit of RTI Act 2005.
The second instance is about the Supreme
Court’s verdict which results in immediate disqualification of law makers who
are convicted of criminal cases and also makes a person who is in police
custody ineligible to contest elections.
{1} The CIC ordered that the national
political parties should be regarded as public offices under the RTI Act and
they should make their funding sources public. The CIC gave this order stating
that the national parties are funded substantially by the central govt and
hence they should be considered as public offices. The CIC’s Order was an
effective step towards decriminalization of politics and making the political
parties transparent. But the political parties are against this Order and they
are saying that it is their internal matter. And they have decided to amend the
RTI Act to keep the political parties out of the ambit of RTI Act.
According to me the decision or
consensus reached by all the parties is not in the common good for the country.
I think it is against the ‘principle of natural justice’- according to which
‘no person can be a judge in his own case’. In this situation the political
parties themselves are deciding whether they come under RTI or not. But in India’s
Parliamentary System this is the way. But also there is one way to overcome
this- The Judiciary. The Judiciary can make this void by the applying ‘due
process of law’ in which the legality of the law is checked.
This shows that the political parties
are not in favour of decriminalizing the politics of the country. If something
has to be done then it should be done by the judiciary. In this way the
political parties are themselves making the way for Judicial Activism.
{2} As mentioned above the Judiciary
took certain steps in decriminalizing the politics.
Recently the Supreme
Court gave a verdict which resulted in immediate disqualification of law makers
(legislators/politicians) if convicted in criminal cases and also the verdict
made the persons who are in police custody at the time of elections ineligible
to contest the elections.
But all the political parties have once
again come together and they have reached a consensus to nullify the apex
court’s order and they have decided to amend the Representation of People Act
1951 (RPA 1951).
According to RPA, a person in police
custody is ineligible to vote and any person to contest in an election should
be a valid voter. Hence the Supreme Court gave the verdict that any person in
police custody during the elections is ineligible to contest elections.
But all the parties are against this
verdict and they say that it will be misused by the ruling party to frame wrong
cases against the other party candidates.
But I will not agree with the view of the
parties, because there are provisions to overcome the misuse of this judgement.
Firstly, the preventive detention can not be the ground for ineligibility or disqualification. Secondly, the criminal
cases which are filed atleast six months before the elections are only regarded
as ground for ineligibility. And regarding framing of wrong cases, the
candidate can get a bail from the independent judiciary and then contest in the
elections. But the political parties are verdict and have come together to
amend the RPA and nullify the Supreme Court order.
By the above two cases it can be
understood that the political parties are not in favour of decriminalization of
politics, instead they are even nullifying the steps taken by other
institutions in this direction. The political parties/politicians should take
some steps on making the administration transparent and accountable to the
people of India. This should be done not on the basis of personal gain or loss,
but for the betterment of the country. The Judiciary to an extent can change
the system by its Judicial Activism, but the ultimate power lies with the
legislators/politicians. So if something really needs to be changed, then it
should be done by the politicians.
We shall hope that in future the
politicians/political parties/legislators work for the betterment of the
country and the people.
