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Self-inflicted setback

The decision of the Election Commission of India to hold Assembly elections in Karnataka before the expiry of the six-month term of President’s Rule ends a period of political uncertainty that was marked by intense lobbying on the part of the Congress and dubious moves by the United Progressive Alliance government. The Election Commission must be complimented not only for withstanding pressures from the ruling establishment but also for working overtime and with a clear focus to ensure the speedy preparation of the electoral rolls post-delimitation. Acting under a constitutional obligation to hold the election by the end of May, the ECI invoked Rule 24 of the Registration of Electors Rules, which provides for a ‘cut and paste’ from the rolls as per the existing constituencies to the new rolls as per the redrawn constituencies. The apprehensions about an on-time election were political in nature: Congress leaders in Karnataka were conscious of the possibility of the party conceding further ground to the Bharatiya Janata Party in the short-term. However, in petitions before the ECI, these were couched as concerns about the revised rolls turning out to be defective on account of the ‘cut and paste’ method. Nothing about this method of preparing the new lists makes it more likely to turn out defective end-results than a thorough revision of the rolls. As long as the law allows the adoption of such a method, there is no reason not to use it on the basis of imagined fears or feigned concerns. The method saves time and helps the ECI to hold the election on schedule as mandated by the Constitution and by Supreme Court rulings. In any case, there is no provision to postpone polls on the grounds of possible defects in the new electoral rolls.

No party can afford to be seen as fearing an election. The Congress, which is by no means organisationally or politically weak in Karnataka, behaved like a party wary of voters, making cynical attempts to manipulate the public mood. From the timing of the presidential notification of the delimitation to the lobbying with the ECI, everything the Congress and the UPA government did appeared politically slanted. Even from the standpoint of realpolitik, it is difficult to see how a delay of a few months would alter the public perception of the relative merits of the contending political parties. The developments over the last few weeks, notably in Meghalaya and Karnataka, have clearly exposed the Congress and the government it heads at the Centre as being unwilling or unable to live up to high constitutional standards. The setback in terms of political credibility was self-inflicted.

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