Birds of same feather
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: August 29, 2013 -

In a classic case of birds of the same feather flocking together, all the members in the Rajya Sabha, which is supposed to be a house where eminent people who could advise the government sit, unanimously passed The Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013 Tuesday without even considering the need for waiting the outcome of the review petition that the Government had filed against the July 10 order of the Supreme Court.

The apex court order had held that those in jail cannot vote as per the Representation of the People's Act and, hence, cannot qualify for contesting elections to the Parliament or the State Assemblies.

But the Amendment Bill seeks to add a proviso to Sub-Section (2) of Section 62 of the Representation of the People Act to state that a person cannot be cease to be voter while in detention as his her right is only temporarily suspended.

The amendment further states that as the name of the jailed person continues to be on the electoral rolls, he or she also continues to be an elector and can file nomination to contest in the election.

Of course, the Bill still awaits the clearance of Lok Sabha, but once it is passed by both houses of the Parliament, it shall come into effect with retrospective effect from July 10, 2013; the day the Supreme Court gave its judgment for immediate disqualification of convicted lawmakers and barring those in jail from contesting in the election.

Interestingly, while passing the proposed amendment to allow people in jail to contest in election, Rajya Sabha acknowledged the need for check growing 'criminalization' in Indian politics.

Now, the question is, how this growing criminalization in Indian politics is to be supposed to be checked by allowing 'tainted' politicians to contest in the election?

The rise in criminalization in Indian politics is a known fact today.

Money and muscle power have been playing a major role in deciding the fate of Indian electoral politics more importantly than ever before, say 10 years earlier, so much so that now it is becoming unthinkable for anyone to contest in the election without money and 'connection'.

In fact, a recent analysis of the affidavits filed by 62,847 Parliamentary and Assembly candidates with the Election Commission since 2004 has clearly revealed that a good 11,063 of the candidates (which comes to 18 percent of the total) have past criminal records including that of 'serious' crimes and there has been a marked rise in the wealth of many winning candidates with criminal records.

In such a situation, the support and passage of the Bill that would negate the Supreme Court judgment that aims to cleanse Indian politics of criminal elements by the Upper House of the Parliament has once again shown that politicians, regardless of their age, experience and political affiliations, are same everywhere.

They may shout against each other and bay for each other's blood, but deep down, they are birds of the same feather.