Guarantees to preserve health of democracy

Political parties must embrace reforms.

It is election time, which means a time for political parties and politicians to make false promises, switch loyalties, indulge in hate speech, arouse passions among their vote-banks and indulge in many such activities to somehow garner votes.While some people will be hyper-active and provocative during this period, a vast majority of people will silently bear the brunt of noise and dust raised during this time.

As a member of the vast silent majority of the electorate, I would like to urge political parties to give us some of the following, if not all, guarantees, which are so badly needed for the health of our democracy and peace and harmony in our society.

Ban hate speech

Political parties and their leaders are meant to lead the people and our nation. They are the very foundation of any democratic society. Therefore, they have a great responsibility towards society. Unfortunately, most of them are neither having any leadership qualities nor do they conduct themselves with dignity. Many elected legislators can be seen indulging in unparliamentary discourse in legislatures and even disrupting the proceedings. The protection given to them for free speech in legislatures is for criticising the policies of the government and not for indulging in hate speech.

In spite of the Supreme Court judgement in the Tehseen Poonawala case in 2018, in which it had laid down elaborate directions to the states to appoint nodal officers for preventing hate crimes and even registering cases, hate speeches are on the increase and hardly any action has been taken against the offenders.

We need a clear definition for hate speech and a strict law to control
hate crimes, as these can disrupt social harmony and can lead to serious law and order problems. 

Criminal charges

The Supreme Court in P V Narasimha Rao Vs State (CBI/SPE) held that MPs and MLAs hold an office and are required to carry out public duty. Therefore, in the context of Prevention of Corruption Act,1988, they are deemed to be public servants.

In fact, they are at the apex of the hierarchy among public servants as they are entrusted with the most important duty of making laws and running the affairs of the states/nation. The common citizen expects that aspiring candidates must be persons of high integrity and should not be involved in any criminal cases. See how a person, facing any criminal case of any nature, is denied a government job even at the lowest rung of the administrative hierarchy.

In the current Lok Sabha, there are 233 MPs with criminal charges against them and 159 of them have serious charges like rape, murder, kidnapping and crimes against women etc. The situation in the state legislatures is no better. Can we expect India to become a world leader with such leadership? Persons facing criminal cases should not be allowed to contest elections.

Reform political parties

It is surprising that the functioning of political parties is not regulated by the government when the functioning of all other organisations, small or big, are regulated. They get numerous benefits and privileges from the State and also run the affairs of the State and have the character of a public institution, as held by the Central Information Commission, yet they do not want to be regulated; they consider themselves above law.

Just see that once a political party is registered with the Election Commission of India, it cannot be de-registered.

We cannot expect to be a healthy democracy unless our political parties themselves function on democratic and secular principles. We need comprehensive reforms in their functioning like internal democracy, limiting tenures on holding elected positions within the party, de-registration for violations of terms of registration, non-registration of political parties whose very names are non-secular etc.

Strengthen anti-defection law

The anti-defection law has failed to stop the floor-crossing of elected legislators. We need to have a law which can stop defections of any single or a group of elected legislators, who have been elected on the symbol of a political party, from joining another political party.

People elect them as members of a political party as they like their policies and programmes. Floor-crossing by any such elected member of a political party amounts to betrayal of the confidence and trust of their electorate.

They should resign their membership if they find that they no longer subscribe to the policies of their political parties and must seek re-election.

Unfortunately, the current situation has only encouraged the business of horse-trading among political parties, which is a very unhealthy and corrupt practice. It weakens our democracy.

Ban pre-election freebies

The announcement of freebies/guarantees before elections has caught the imagination of many political parties. It has also given them electoral dividends. It is unfortunate that some political parties want to gain political power through freebies by causing long-term damage to the economy.

The beneficiaries of freebies may get some monetary benefit, but it also does not help them in becoming self-reliant in the long run. Besides, such a practice also amounts to a corrupt practice as it promises bribes for votes. There is no provision in the Constitution for such freebies, contrary to the claims of the political parties to their constitutional validity.

The stated objective/justification for pre-election announcement of freebies cannot be contested by anyone as it is to help the poor and to empower the disempowered in the society.

But, as per Article 37 of the Constitution (Directive Principles of State Policy), these objectives are to be kept in view by the state while making laws, which can only be a post-election activity of the state. In a democratic set-up, it means that the concerned legislature will have the opportunity to discuss all the aspects of providing such benefits, including the financial capacity of the state, to fund such measures.

I am sure no political party will be able to muster enough courage to give these guarantees through their election manifestos for the 2024 parliamentary elections.

I am equally sure that they will also not publicly oppose most of these measures. I will be happy if these guarantees generate some interest among the silent electorate who may like to put pressure on political parties to take note of these suggestions. 

(The author is a retired IAS officer)