NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Jahata Party president, Mr. L.K. Advani, on Thursday criticized the Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi for blaming opposition again “for the lack of progress in the matter of electoral reforms.”
Referring to the “slander” repeated by Mr. Gandhi while speaking to Youth Congress (I) workers on Wednesday, Mr. Advani asserted that it was the Congress I “which is squarely responsible for holding up polls reforms and not the opposition.” He reminded the Prime Minister that when he had “said something similar in Parliament two months ago, his statement was rebutted on the spot.”
Mr. Advani reiterated his demand that the Prime Minister “convene an immediate meeting” of opposition parties to discuss electoral reforms “threadbare.” A Bill should be introduced only after the discussion. Parliament should not be confronted with a fait accompli on the basis of the Congress Party’s report. A Government Congress party discussion is no substitute for a Government opposition dialogue” Mr. Advani pointed out, asserting: “My party is keen that the poll reform Bill be introduced and passed in the winter session itself.”
Commenting on the recommendation made by the Congress I Working Committee, Mr. Advani regretted that the ruling party “has failed to make any positive suggestions in respect of the two most malignant maladies which afflict the electoral process.” He identified these maladies as “the increasing role of money power in elections” and blatant abuse of government machinery by the party in power during elections.”
The BJP chief assailed the Congress (I) for having “failed to come up with any alternative suggestion of its own” after having rejected the opposition parties’ unanimous suggestion of state funding of elections. “Can it deny that over the years elections have been becoming more and more costly, and more and more corrupt?” he asked.
Mr. Advani recalled that even expert bodies like the Wanchoo Committee, set up in 1971 to make recommendations in respect of direct taxation held that the money spent by parties on political and election activity are a principal factor in black money, the Wanchoo Committee had, recommended “not just election grants, but also grants in aid for political parties.”
The BJP chief chided the Congress I for not having accepted the Election Commissions suggestion that violation of the “commission’s code of conduct (which presently is observed only in the breach) be made penal offence.” This would bring under the jurisdiction of the law the “evil practice” of ministers misusing their position at the time of elections.
He pointed out that during elections, the “dividing line between the Government and the ruling party disappears. Ministers generally have no qualms about mobilizing all the resources at the command of official agencies to promote the poll prospects of ruling party candidates. There is a spree of foundation stone laying ceremony, launching of new projects, etc. All these activities add up to an attempt at mass bribery of electors.””
Condemning the “abuse of radio and TV by the ruling party,’ Mr. Advani said “this is another factor which makes the poll battle highly unequal and unfair” but the Congress (I) report “omits even a reference to this problem.” He felt that the Election Commission should set up a monitoring cell to “keep watch on political coverage by these media so as to ensure that they do not become propaganda organs of the ruling party at least during election time.”
“Of course, a lasting solution to this problem lays in grant of autonomy to this media a proposal which the Rajiv Government has publicly rejected,” Mr. Advani remarked.
Mr. Advani objected to the “summary” rejection by the Congress (I) of the “proposal for the introduction of the List system or the Mixed system which the Tarkunde committee had recommended and which at least one chief election commissioner, Shri S. L. Shakdher, has supported.”
He demanded that an experts committee be set up “to examine the feasibility of adopting the List system in India.” He said a recommendation to this effect had been made by the Joint Parliamentary Committee.
“The first-past-the-post system which we have adopted was favored by the constituent assembly on the assumption that this system would yield a two party set up. This assumption has not proved right. The actual outcome of the present electoral system has been that Indian polity has been oscillating between single party stagnancy and multiparty instability” Mr. Advani said.
Expressing happiness over the Congress (l) decision to “shed its stubborn resistance to three measures,” the BJP leader stated that “the true touchstone for judging the Government’s earnestness lies in whether it has the vill to implement these three measures before the next Lok Sahba elections. These three measures are: lowering of voting age from 21 to 18 years old, introducing of identity cards for voters and use of electronic voting machines.”
Mr. Advani recalled that the Congress (I) had “consistently said no to the recommendation on lowering the voting age made way back in 1971 by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Amendments to Election Law.
“The other two recommendations also have been repeatedly pressed by my party as well as most other opposition parties,” he said.
In principle, at least one of these proposals, namely adopting of electronic voting machines, was accepted in 1983 and the commitment repeated periodically since then. But even then no headway has been made.”
Article extracted from this publication >> November 4, 1988
