Dear Sri TSK Sir,
Thank you for sharing your article (scroll down to the end below) with me. It is a very well written, sober and sobering commentary on the ills of our country’s electoral system .
The solutions to many of the problems highlighted by you lie not in the hands of the ECI (Election Commission of India) but in the realm of legislative and civil society action . The ECI at best can apply only bandaid , and it cannot within the ambit of its Constitutional role and powers, carry out sweeping reform of the system which is the crying need of the hour.
As I read through the pages of your commentary , the following ideas were running through mind:
1. Political parties should not be exempt from the country’s tax laws . They are legal entities that earn an income , hold fiduciary positions in some form or the other and can be said to be held accountable for the trust reposed on them by the public . But then we all know only too well that no Indian parliament will ever pass any such law that deprives political parties of tax exemption which they have been enjoying now for decades . The Constitution of India has since Independence been pampering the legislative/ political class that it is now so used to luxuriating in entitlements and legal immunities and exemptions of all kinds. So, no political party will ever support nor pass any such law that takes away the benefit of tax exemption enjoyed.
2. Therefore , it is my view that some supra-parliamentary way out has to be contemplated by civil society at large and sheer public opinion must be galvanised on a mass scale across the country to bring in an overriding, overarching Presidential Ordinance or Extraordinary Dictat that circumvents the legislature in order to pass into law the withdrawal of tax-exemption enjoyed for so long by political parties in India. The political class has misused, abused its tax special-status and has shown itself to be wholly undeserving of such largesse.
3. A Presidential Dictat of such a nature, I’m well aware, won’t be easy at all to promulgate and impose given the political uproar it is bound to cause amongst the entire political class in the country. However, it is my view that the citizens of India are the masters of the politicians , not their slavish dogs. The couple must arise as one and vociferously agitate in the streets to demand such a drastic enactment of a law which will render parliamentary accord to it to be unnecessary for it to come into legal force. The legal eagles and constitutional experts in the country must put on their thinking hats to find out a credible and creative way to make such an suo moto Presidential Extraordinary Ordinance possible and valid.
4. If all political parties are thus brought in one full swoop under the pale of Indian tax law, we can most certainly expect then to see all the related ills and problems of (a) electoral funding , black and/or white (b) rampant proliferation or mushrooming of political lightweight, flyby-night and aayaa raam , gaya raam outfits, lobbyists and skullduggery artists and (c) voter freebies distribution all get substantially curtailed in our elections . Indeed it would be a case of One stone , three mangoes being brought down!
5. Sir, another suggested solution to the other problem highlighted by you regarding the constitutional institution of the Speaker’s position in Parliament. It is my view that the Speaker must be treated as a separate Constitutional office on its own and utterly divorced from electoral processes within the Parliamentary legislative Parties’ forum.
6. Sir, in other words , the position of the Speaker of both Parliaments and of all State and UT Legislatures must henceforth become people’s directly elected representatives and such elected speakers will have no Party affiliation, none whatsoever. Instead they will be chosen by the general public purely on the strength and virtues of personal probity, competence, independence and trust. They will be sworn into office only to protect the Constitution within the House. Their loyalty will be directly towards the people who elected them , not to this or that political party . A whole cadre of apolitical Speakers of the House will get developed in due course of time whose professionalism and integrity would be unimpeachable.
The above are some of my random thoughts . Sir, Please let me know if they are practicable or not .
Thank you
Best regards ,
Sudarshan Madabushi
