Law should be amended to prevent
fractured mandate
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has to decide whether
to recommend dissolution of the Delhi Assembly or not. Lt. Governor did not accept the outgoing
regime’s recommendation to dissolve the House. The rule says that the
legislature can be dissolved only after the Proclamation imposing President’s
Rule receives the approval of both Houses of Parliament. Both the Houses have approved the
Proclamation, but the Assembly continues to remain suspended. The AAP has
approached the Supreme Court challenging the non-dissolution of the House and
seeking fresh elections.
A fresh election is the obvious way out of the
present impasse, but none can guarantee a decisive verdict with any one party
winning a majority.
The only option will be for parties to
work together for a reasonable period of time so that repeated, frequent polls
are avoided since fresh election would impose additional burden of expenditure
on the electorate.
Having won 28 seats in the assembly, with 8 short of
majority, the AAP should have played the role of constructive opposition,
allowing the single largest party BJP to form the government. AAP did the
mistake of taking the support of Congress, the very same party it opposed in
the elections.
Arvind Kejriwal is being criticized for relinquishing
his position as Chief Minister of Delhi. But these critics should understand
that if AAP continued in government for some more time, Congress would have
toppled the government anyway. Also
BJP had refused to form government and AAP did not request Congress' support,
they offered unconditional support. AAP was not in any tie-up with Congress. It
was a wise move to form the government owing to which they got attention from
all part of the country. It’s normal
that the government which fails to pass such an important bill need to resign.
There are many to criticize destructively a small party that formed an year
ago, and sincerely trying to make a change, but support the most corrupt
parties.
The truth is both Congress and BJP think the sins of
each party can be washed away to some extent if AAP is aligned with either one
of them. Congress wanted to do so by offering unconditional and uncalled for
support for AAP in Delhi, and now some section of BJP thinks to root out
corruption AAP should have joined hands with BJP. But AAP knows it clearly both
are villains to its core policies namely achieving the true democracy through
self rule and anti-corruption.
AAP whose primary motto is to clean this corrupt
system would never compromise on the fundamental principal on which it was
formed. It can never be power hungry and do whatever it takes like Congress and
BJP to stick to power.
People must use their votes judiciously to elect a
party or a coalition that promises to meet their aspirations. But a fractured
mandate is a reality and we should consider enactment of suitable amendments in
the Representation of People’s Act and related election rules to take care of
situations like the one in Delhi. Unfortunately our political parties are
simply not concerned about such amendments as they are busy indulging in
political games to fool the people and to somehow seize power and retain it.
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