Deputy PM L.K. Advani wants to synchronise parliamentary elections with assembly elections. The proposal merits serious consideration. But it was advanced for the wrong reason. Advani wants to dilute a possibly ignominious defeat in the assembly elections. Would he support the same proposal at another time? Look in the mirror, Advani!
CEC J.M. Lyngdoh rushed to denounce Advani's proposal even before the government had spoken to him. He called it "undemocratic". He said it would lead to "cheating like hell". Were simultaneous elections before 1971 undemocratic? If a dissolved Lok Sabha necessitates simultaneous elections with assemblies, can the EC not prevent "cheating like hell"? Button your lip, Lyngdoh!
The PM said neither he nor the pmo interfered with the cbi in the Babri case. What about other ministers? The PM said that the government exercised only "administrative control" over the cbi. So, can the government merely promote, demote or transfer officers? Violating basic democratic convention ministers cling to office, unless their very underlings have them convicted! Wise up, Vajpayee, the public isn't dumb!
After the NHRC sought retrial of the Best Bakery case, Narendra Modi asked the President to review communal riots in the past 50 years to allay public misgivings over his government's role. Many MPs cried foul. They called the Gujarat CM's appeal unconstitutional. Modi is wrong and the nhrc is right. But suppose the NHRC was wrong and a CM was right? The NHRC has made mistakes in the past. Who might its victim appeal to if not the President?
The Constitution Review Commission was an abject failure because it never addressed the real issue. The government has a majority in Parliament. Parliament therefore cannot ordinarily check an executive that tramples conventions. Only the President, with the widest electoral mandate, can rise above partisanship to check government excess. But in defiance of the written word in our Constitution, the President has been turned into a rubber stamp. We believe that's enough to make us a Westminster model. When will MPs get real?
