The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly’s order sentencing State Election Commissioner Nand Lal to two days in jail for alleged breach of privilege underscores the urgent need for codification of the privileges of the legislature. It is hard to dispel the feeling that the jail term givencto the state’s senior-most election official was excessive.

Nand Lal’s ‘offence’ was that he did not appear in person before the privileges committee despite the latter issuing him several summons to do so. The summons were in response to a March 2006 order promulgated by the SEC that it, not the government, had the powers to conduct elections of office bearers of civic bodies such as mayors and deputy mayors. Nand Lal’s refusal to appear in person before the privileges committee – he sent a written reply instead – was seen by legislators as defiance. But by sentencing the state’s senior-most election official to a jail term – however short that term might be – the legislature has undermined the stature of this constitutional office. Was a jail sentence necessary? Surely a reprimand would have sufficed. Nand Lal has now moved the Bombay High Court to challenge the imprisonment. The legislature has responded to that by passing a resolution stating that it will not respond to any court orders on the matter. Another confrontation between the legislature and the judiciary appears to be imminent.

The SEC has alleged that he is a victim of political vendetta. It appears that he has had several run-ins with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. He had, for instance, hauled up the chief minister for misusing state machinery while campaigning in local elections. If the SEC’s allegations are true, then this is a classic case of legislative privileges being misused to settle personal and political scores. The legislature’s order against the SEC could deter election officials from standing up to political pressure from legislators. It could undermine the independent working of the Election Commission.

There is currently much vagueness and uncertainty regarding what actually constitutes a breach of privilege or contempt of the House. This opens space for its misuse by the legislature. In the absence of a well-defined code of privileges, the legislature can, in the name of protecting its privileges, trample on the functioning of the bureaucracy, the freedom of the press and so on. The process for codification of legislative privileges must be set in motion without further delay.