Hey! I Am Accountable

By Geoffery *

Ours is the largest, envied and resilient democracy in the world. After the Britishers left our soil for good, we decided to adopt a difficult system of governance i.e. Parliamentary System.

In this system elected representatives are supposed to be totally accountable i.e. both vertically and laterally. Vertically upwards to the nation, party hierarchy and vertically downwards to the electorate they represent. Laterally they are equally accountable to the members of party they represent and other members of parliament.

Are they so? This question has been debated upon by the nation many a times. But war on Mumbai has made the debate more vociferous and forceful. The result is the high sounding statements, questioning and rolling of certain heads.

High sounding statements by senior leaders had become order of the day. Congress party president Smt Sonia Gandhi said, "------- it is the time to deliver ". Yes! Madam, it is so lest it is too late.

There are other countries (UK, Newzealand, Australia, Canada) with parliamentary system of governance where parliamentarians are as much accountable to their own colleagues in the party as to the electorate and the nation they represent. But in our country the speculation goes on till the last before a new member is inducted into the party unlike the other countries where a deliberate consensus is arrived at before induction of new members.

Electorate is never interacted after gaining the power unlike some of the nations where electorate is interacted to synergise the planned development with local needs. There is a large scale money flow during and after elections (a basic democratic process). Former is to buy votes of the poor & needy electorate and later to fill up personal coffers.

Election Commissioner N Gopaleswamy has admitted, "In Karnataka assembly election in May 08, hard cash, liquor, and Goodies worth Rs 45.57 Crore were seized". He further added, "If a candidate is willing to spend 10 times more than the prescribed ceiling, it is not out of philanthropy but in the secure knowledge that he can earn 10 times what he spends when he gets power".

Officially speaking during assembly elections a candidate can spend Rs 12 lakhs on the campaign. Out of this Rs 4 Lakhs are to be kept aside for national or state level leaders to campaign. Does it happen?

Udit Raj who quit as income tax commissioner to contest elections in Delhi said, "Elections have become a total farce. It is money that matters. Ideology alone cannot win you elections how can there be an ideology that is to be adhered after coming to power? There are pre poll and post poll alliances. Former can keep the ally bound to a common strategy but the later is only at convenience of the ally. There are some of the independent candidates who rule the roost just to reach the magic simple majority figure. This is not without a consideration.

Forewarnings of the use of; money in elections had already been forecast but of no avail. C Raja Gopalachari had predicted," we shall see the power & tyranny of wealth. In 1957 TISCO wanted to change their Memorandum of Association to allow company to make contributions to political parties.

Bombay High Court allowed with weighing obiter dictum, "we think it our duty to draw the attention of parliament to the great danger inherent in permitting companies to make contribution to the funds of political parties. It is a danger which; may grow apace and which may overwhelm and even throttle democracy in the country".

As the law stands at present, a political party; may receive any amount by way of contributions under the Companies Act by way of an independent encouragement of corporate funding. Section 77 of the Representation of Peoples act excludes expenditure incurred by political parties from the computation of Election Commission prescribed ceiling on a candidate's election expenditure.

Criminal records of most of the elected members (both at the centre and state) are well known. And affiliations of convenience of these members with under ground (UG) or criminal outfits are also an open secret.

North East Region (NeR) of our country abounds in number of UG outfits. Every outfit here has an affiliation or tacit understanding with some or the other political party. Our leaders do not seem to be responsible to the electorate and not are they proud of the appointments they hold because none feels accountable for the mishaps that occur in their ministries.

Recent examples of Home Minister at the centre and Maharashtra assembly (who were cajoled to accept responsibility) are fresh in our minds. There are umpteen examples of Rail ministry. The situation in NeR is no better where mishaps are an order than an exception.

The wastage of assembly time and parliament time in non issues is order of the day, least do they realize each minute of parliament costs Rs. 26000/- to the public. It seems the representatives are partially accountable to the party they represent (power needs) and fully responsible to the money they harvest.

Wish insight comes that,"Politics is not about big money or power games; it is about improvement of people,s lives".