It is in the Congresss DNA, isn't it? Mercifully, the diabolic proposal to turn the Election Commission of India into a committed poodle of the ruling party has been abandoned. Not because the wise men who constitute the UPA Cabinet saw better sense. No. Because before they could move further to implement their authoritarian move there was a loud public protest. And, like all cowards, the ministers of the realm, the Salman Khurshids, the Kapil Sibals, etc, retreated, shouting that there was no such move. But there was. Their own Cabinet agenda papers belied their denials. In the garb of according the code of conduct a statutory backing, a devious plan was hatched to make the EC toothless, powerless. To deny EC the power to enforce the code of conduct and shift the onus for its implementation to the executive and the courts would have freed the likes of Khurshid and Sibal from the obligation of observing the basic rules of fair play in the electoral arena. Smarting under frequent reprimands from the EC for the flagrant breach of the code, they wanted to neutralize the EC. Khurshid as Law and Justice Minister was a more flagrant offender.

Even if he was desperate to bolster the electoral prospects of his wife, Lousie Fernandes, who was contesting from one of the Assembly segments in his Farrikhabad parliamentary constituency, Khurshid behaved most abominably in frontally challenging the authority of the EC. This was unbecoming conduct for the countrys Law Minister. Another central minister Beni Prasad Verma aped Khurshid, clearly at the latters behest, and earned summons from the EC. Also, on a number of occasions, the second most important leader in the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, had been found in clear breach of the code. Frequent reminders from the EC to the serial offenders to observe the rules seemed to have persuaded the Congress leaders to disempower the EC. When you remove the referee the game is there for you to win whichever way you play it. And that is what the Congress bigwigs wanted.

Fortunately, the country has come a long way from the time when the Election Commission was virtually an extension of the party in power in New Delhi. In all crucial aspects, the decision- making powers of the EC were exercised by the Home Ministry. However, the advent of T N Seshan in Nirvachan Sadan in the late 80s helped in freeing the EC from the clutches of the ruling party. The code of conduct was devised through consensus by all political parties under the aegis of the EC and it has to be admitted that it has helped immensely to provide a level playing electoral field.

All parties at one time or the other have complained against the ECs overzealousness in enforcing the code. But the arrogance of power and the Congresss track record as an authoritarian party seemed to have egged it on to try and cut the EC to size. Pelting constitutional institutions is an old habit of Congress leadership. Therefore, one was not really surprised that it sought to denude the EC of its most crucial power to ensure that elections are free and fair for all concerned. How terribly the Khurshids and the Sibals are out of touch with the current reality can be gauged from the fact that they really believed that they could successfully emasculate the EC. Given the independent media, an active civil society and an ever- watchful higher judiciary, there was no way such an assault on the countrys electoral monitor would have gone through. But the votaries of a committed bureaucracy and a committed judiciary could not be faulted for not trying for a committed Election Commission. But the party that is wedded to the Family is always able and ready to undermine all constitutional institutions in the belief that the Dynasty is the sole institution worth preserving.

The problem stems from this diseased mindset.

Fight it to preserve and protect your democracy.