Power-shift in Maha displays dark corners of democracy

Though the drama that has brought the BJP back into power in Maharashtra has been full of thrill and excitement, it has only shown the dark corners of our parliamentary system. The kind of manipulations we have witnessed in the recent politics of the State are ugly in both their essence and appearance.

How can we ignore the fact that nearly forty MLAs, including some cabinet ministers, flee Mumbai, seek refuge in five-star hotels in Surat and Guwahati, and roam for ten days before returning to Mumbai via Goa to form a new government? All of the places they visited are in BJP-ruled states, where they were lavished with amenities, including police security. The government of Assam welcomed their arrival amid a worsening flood situation.

There is no need to stress the point that even after 75 years of independence, we have not been able to ensure free and fair elections. Recent developments have also proved that there is no way to check post-poll malpractices such as defections. On the one hand, our electoral system allows people with dubious credentials to get elected.

On the other hand, they are allowed to violate the moral obligation of being loyal to the party that has given them the ticket. They take advantage of loopholes in the Anti-Defection Law to switch sides and fulfil their opportunistic ambitions. Defections in Maharashtra under the leadership of Eknath Shinde have more implications than we anticipate.

To be frank, the way these defections have been engineered has made the Anti-Defection Law redundant for all practical purposes.

The law, which has come into existence after repeated demands by the opposition parties, has been made ineffective by a party that has been in the forefront of demanding it. Clearly, the BJP has made Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde, the Chief Minister to lure him to defect. It hardly requires any substantiation that Shinde's travels to three states had the BJP's patronage.

This is not new. The BJP has been doing it since the party took over power in the center. When we compare the events in Maharashtra, the method adopted in toppling governments in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh was less damaging to the Ant-Defection Law. In these cases, the defecting MLAs had to resign from their memberships and seek a fresh mandate from their voters. Though the BJP resorted to this method because they were short of a few MLAs to reach the magic number, it was well within the provisions of the Anti-Defection Law. The method only bypassed the law, not violated it. In Maharashtra, the BJP needed a large number and hence, adopted a method that violated the law.

It is clear that TV channels are only focusing on the drama and avoiding larger concerns about democracy. Even the legal aspects are being ignored in most of the debates. Their major concern has been whether Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde and his group can bypass the Anti-Defection Law or not.Except a few, all of them have been reporting the Supreme Court proceeding with a view to sensationalising the issue. They are hardly concerned with what will happen to the Anti-Defection Law.

The Court could not stop the defections despite the fact that the flight of Maharashtra MLAs and related facts were in the public domain. By giving time to the 16 MLAs of Shinde's group to reply to the notice of the Deputy Speaker, the Court, in a way, allowed the defections to take their course. He even let these MLAs form a new government.

The court's verdict on the prayer of Shinde to seek a stay on the notice of the Deputy Speaker has wide implications. It will set a new precedent that the proceedings of the House can be interfered with. The norm, however, has been to avoid interference. This has huge implications for the implementation of the Anti-Defection Law too. After all, the Speaker (in this case, the Deputy Speaker) has to decide on the conduct of the legislature. If he is not allowed a free hand, he cannot decide on defections. Another decision of the Court in this case also goes against the interests of the opposition parties. It did not stop the Governor from ordering a floor test.

The role of governors has always been in controversy, and we see how the Opposition has been alleging partisanship on the part of the governors in West Bengal, Maharashtra, and other states. After the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission, the role of the governor has changed considerably.

An understanding had started to develop that, except in extraordinary circumstances, the governors would work according to the wishes of the state cabinet. In recent years, this understanding has almost vanished. Governors are openly interfering with the day-to-day functioning of state governments. The worst part of it is that this is being done in the states that are ruled by non-BJP parties.

The failure of the Anti-Defection Law will not only affect the functioning of the institutions of the governor and the speaker of the assembly. Both institutions are vital for safeguarding federalism. In the past as well, the ruling party at the centre has been found to be dislodging opposition governments in the states. However, this temptation has increased to its highest level and is starting to harm the core of the constitution.

Defections are not to be checked only for the reason that they are cheating the voters; they have to be stopped to uphold the federal structure. We have seen that most of the defections are engineered at the behest of the ruling regime at the center. However, the entry of agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, CBI, and Income Tax Department into the game has made things worse. These agencies are supposed to check the interference of money and muscle power in the smooth functioning of democracy. Now they are feared for their destabilising role.

(The author is a senior journalist. He has experience of working with leading newspapers and electronic media including Deccan Herald, Sunday Guardian, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar. He writes on politics, society, environment and economy)