Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Constitutional bodies should not be biased' that was published in Newsband

Constitutional bodies should not be biased

The Election Commission has advised the President that 20 legislators of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi are liable for disqualification. The correctness of the EC’s decision will be decided on legal grounds.

It is indeed true that the Arvind Kejriwal regime is politically disadvantaged because, unlike State governments, it cannot make many decisions without the Lt. Governor’s concurrence. It is nothing but a self-inflicted defeat to Kejriwal. He should have been careful and thoughtful as the politics has different angles and may have pleasant as well as unpleasant surprises. Of course "office of profit "is subject to legal scrutiny but the outcome of it may take years and AAP has to face the election under adverse circumstances.

In present day politics any discussion on means and ends is not necessary. The ends are what count. AAP's brand of politics is thorn in the flesh for major political parties, in particular BJP and Congress. Any stick is good enough to beat AAP. Any party led by middle class intellectuals which wins popular support is simply intolerable for the big brothers who wish to see such party wiped out and vanish from political stage.

Arvind Kejriwal is putting blame for disqualification of his 20 MLAs squarely on ECI and BJP and it is a fact that BJP would be main beneficiary if by-elections are held.

The disqualification is most likely to be upheld by Supreme Court also as it is in consonance with its earlier rulings on office of profit. It is also a fact that BJP is targeting him and putting obstacles in his way but he must tread with caution. He should also learn from this blunder and abide by law.

If the ruling party was BJP, would the Election Commission take such drastic step? President of India takes such decision so hurriedly without giving an opportunity to hear from them? Are we in democracy? What about the post of political secretaries in other states occupied by BJP & Congress MLAs?

The major concern is constitutional bodies should not be biased for or against political parties otherwise the democracy will be in danger. Problem is not with AAP alone: every political party in the government has used, misused and abused the provisions in constitution. Even the courts have given contradictory and conflicting verdicts according to the political parties’ convenience.