The Election Commission of India yesterday, in a surprise move, decided to handover the party name and symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction despite knowing fully well that the Shiv Sena’s case between the two factions is sub-judice and is in the Supreme Court awaiting a verdict on the Speaker’s function and disqualification proceedings of 16 MLAs.
Surprisingly, the ECI handed over the party and symbol to the very same faction that betrayed the party leadership and chose to run to Surat-Guwahati-Goa to form a government in the state of Maharashtra along with the BJP. If this isn't a mockery of democracy then what is?
This has conclusively proven that today there is no independent agency that is functioning to uphold the democratic principles and constitutional morality. The centralisation of power is so complete that ED, CBI, IT were first deployed in the state to split the party and yesterday the ECI, which will henceforth be remembered as Entirely Compromised Institution of India, was wheeled in to give this treachery a stamp of approval for it.
The Eknath Shinde camp, instead of resigning and facing an election, as is an honourable route, chose to steal it all through deceit and manipulation. They may have stolen the mandate but what they cannot take away is the legacy of party founder Balasaheb Thackeray. With the exit of these rebels, the party has rather undergone a purification process and shed away those people who don’t have the stomach to fight the growing authoritarianism of the BJP which doesn’t mind finishing off its own long standing allies to consolidate itself.
However, the party split aside, the present situation raises two very pertinent issues for India’s democracy – independence of executive institutions and precedence of the order of these pillars of democracy. In this regard, the decision of the Election Commission, alias Entirely Compromised Institution of India, is disappointing, but only tells of the state of India’s institutions under the BJP.
A mere reading of the ‘final order’ passed by the ECI under Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 is reflective of how it first arrived at a conclusion and then framed reasonings around it to justify the order.
To quote, “the Commission was once again forced to rely upon ‘Test of Majority’”. If the Commission were to indeed refer to the test, it must also delve into the aspect of how the majority has been secured. The ‘majority’ is nothing but an example of horse-trading, allurement and coercion. If the apex body to regulate elections in the country does not qualitatively analyse such issues, what is left but to reduce politics to a game of numbers?
What is surprising is the ruling that “reliance on ‘Test of Party Constitution’, saying that there was lack of internal party democracy. However, enough and more evidence in public domain shows that the election of Shri Uddhav Thackeray was done as per EC norms and had the stamp of approval of all the party representatives in 2018.
Talking of inner party democracy, not only Shri Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray has the majority support of the grassroots workers of Shiv Sena, over 20 lakh affidavits of primary members and 2.83 lakh affidavits of office bearers were submitted to EC prove the same as compared to that of 12 lakh primary members and 711 office bearers of the Shinde faction.
Yet it is astonishing to see the EC ignore the cadre support and rely on ‘legislative support’ . Talking of internal party democracy and transparency, will the ECI explain to the country how BJP chooses its party president! Indeed, to quote Arun Jaitly ji, “post- retirement placements affect the pre-retirement judgments.” Though it was in context to the judiciary, including ECI in the ambit in this context will not be misplaced.
This order is also a dangerous deviation to the previously established precedents. For instance, in 2017, when the AIADMK underwent a split between V Sasikala and N Palaniswami, both factions took new names and symbols, until later reunited. Similarly, the Lok Janshakti Party split between Chirag Paswan and Pashupati Paras also required both factions to use new, modified names and party symbols. These precedents are important to understand that the ECI needs to look at not only the numerical majority but the legacy of the party.
The order on the Shiv Sena may undermine India’s democratic values and constitutionalism, which may be reduced to a farce by toppling governments in other states and playing number games to split political rivals if this order is upheld.
There is an urgent need to re-look at the causes that led to the evolution of anti-defection laws. The ECI should have kept this fundamental jurisprudential aspect in mind while deciding the case, unless guided by external considerations. It is now with the Supreme Court, which is also now under constant attack, to apply a judicial mind to ensure that ends of justice are met and the future of democracy is saved and to prove that the judiciary will continue to be the beacon of light in these stormy times.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗣 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗨𝗱𝗱𝗵𝗮𝘃 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝘃 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
