Opinion - Editorials   

Beware of partisan temptations

When the stakes are high, neither considerations of political propriety nor arguments of constitutional validity have deterred the United Progressive Alliance government, and before it the National Democratic Alliance government, from seeking to further their partisan interests. This was evident in the imposition of President's rule in Bihar — subsequently declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court — to thwart the attempts of the Janata Dal(United)-Bharatiya Janata Party combine to form the government. It became clear when the UPA regime came perilously close to dismissing the Mulayam Singh government on the eve of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Uttar Pradesh, which will soon complete its seven rounds of polling, may well see some element of uncertainty over government formation with a hung Assembly in prospect, according to virtually every opinion poll. Yet, despite the high personal stakes of the Congress leadership in the State, the constitutional rules have been clarified by the rulings of the Supreme Court in the Bommai case and, more recently, in the Bihar Assembly dissolution case. The scope for mischief by the Centre is limited. Yet there is an area where the temptation to tweak the rules of the game may turn out to be strong: the election of the next President in June 2007.

In the electoral college comprising elected Members of Parliament and the State Assemblies, neither the UPA nor the NDA holds a decisive edge. Other parties whose alignments are uncertain — among them the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party — become important at the margin. The composition of the U.P. Assembly therefore gains considerable significance. There is already speculation that the U.P. Assembly may be quarantined out of the presidential election process — using the slightest uncertainty over government formation as a reason for not convening the house and allowing the members to take their oaths. Article 188 of the Constitution requires every member to make and subscribe to an oath or affirmation before "taking his seat" in the house, which can be done only when the first meeting is convened. On the other hand, the Supreme Court in the Bihar Assembly dissolution case has made it clear that a new Assembly is constituted once the Election Commission notifies the results of the elections. Preventing members of a new Assembly, who form an integral part of the electoral college, from voting in the presidential election by delaying their oath-taking will amount to constitutional fraud. At the moment, all this is in the realm of speculation. Nevertheless, given the propensity of central governments to yield to partisan temptations and not do the constitutionally right thing until forced to do so by a political uproar or a court verdict, The Hindu considers this cautionary leader necessary in the constitutional and democratic interest.

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