CONsensus

                                                   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.