It's a win for money power in RS polls

Elections to the Rajya Sabha are not normally marked by suspense and surprise because the polling is held on party lines by members of state Assemblies. But in these times, when political lines and loyalties shift quickly, the results are not always given
and predictable. The latest round of elections held on Saturday had their share of uncertainty as parties and legislators, who are the voters, had cut deals across the spectrum and money and other considerations entered the electoral picture in many places. For 58 seats that had fallen vacant, 31 candidates were elected unopposed last week. In the elections to the 27 remaining seats, the fortunes were not even. Overall, the Congress lost six seats in the House and the NDA gained five. The opposition still has an upper hand in the House where many of the government’s legislative moves have been blocked in the past two years. Some senior leaders of both the BJP and the Congress are among the entrants to the House.

The Janata Dal in Karnataka suffered the worst as it could not get its candidate elected and saw an open rebellion by some of its MLAs. The setback will have repercussions for the party beyond the elections. The Congress had a major shock in Haryana where 14 of its MLAs cast invalid votes in order to defeat a party-supported independent. In Jharkhand also, the party failed to ensure the victory of the candidate it supported. In Uttar Pradesh, a BJP MLA voted for the Samajwadi Party, though it does not seem to have influenced the result. Rajasthan saw cross-voting by at least two BJP MLAs. There were also murky incidents like the arrest of a JMM MLA from a hospital on the eve of the election on a very old charge.

The worrying trend of the growing role of money in the selection of candidates by parties and voting by MLAs came to the fore again in the elections. Industrialists and businessmen have found a way to enter the Rajya Sabha by buying support from political parties. The JD(S) fielded a businessman in Karnataka and the BJP supported the wife of an industrialist in UP. Two sting operations which saw the JD(S) and independent MLAs demanding money for their votes also exposed the murky side of the elections. Worse, the party leadership, including a former prime minister of the country, defended bribe taking. When the electoral process is so vitiated and seats can be bought, Parliament loses its sanctity and democracy is diminished. All parties are responsible for this.