Opinion - Editorials   

Impressive win

Ordinarily a by-election to the Madurai West Assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu would not count for much. The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, with the support of its allies, enjoys the comfort of numbers in the Assembly, and victory or defeat in a by-election cannot make any material difference to the political equations. But the significance of the victory of the DMK-powered Congress candidate, K.S.K. Rajendran, goes beyond the immediate. The election was widely seen a s a test of the popular mood. The stakes were clearly higher for the DMK than for the Congress, and not surprisingly, the leaders and cadres of the ruling party were in the forefront of the campaign from the start. With enough justification, the DMK leadership can now rubbish claims that the actions of the ‘Azhagiri faction’ were beginning to tell on the party’s prospects. The margin of victory of Mr. Rajendran over his main rival, Sellur K. Raju of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam — 31,115 votes — exceeded the expectations of the most optimistic in the ruling camp. Indeed the Congress candidate got twice as many votes as the AIADMK nominee. In the event, the real contest was for second place: D. Sivamuthukumaran of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam led by actor-turned-politician Vijayakant came a fairly close third with 21,272 votes. Since the general election, the DMDK has been gaining at the expense of the AIADMK. For the DMK-led combine, the win is all the more creditable because it was wresting the seat from the AIADMK.

The real surprise was the voter turnout, which at 75.34 per cent was the highest ever for the constituency. While the Election Commission of India can take due credit for the splendid turnout and the picture-perfect conduct of the polling, it did at times adopt an unnecessarily combative posture. In arm-twisting the State administration, it went over the top. The Chief Election Commissioner’s threats to postpone the election, issued to the Chief Secretary and also through the media, were uncalled for. After ordering the transfer of the Collector, the Commissioner of Police, and the Returning Officer and making fresh appointments from a panel of names, the Commission was still dissatisfied with the situation. In retrospect, the fears and apprehensions seem exaggerated, if not misplaced. The attempts at micro-managing the ground situation betrayed a streak of commandism. A paranoid style in the conduct of elections fits ill with democracy. The challenge before the Election Commission is to be uncompromising in ensuring a free, fair, and peaceful election without resorting to bluster — and without seeming to wage war on the civil administration.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Gordon Brown at No. 10
Impressive win
Climate change and India’s options
Corrections and Clarifications
Too many people, too few surnames
A summit of diminished expectations
Back to old ways
Unethical practices
All time low
Telgi sentenced
Significant
Poor parenting
Crazy English

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu