People's Democracy

CPI(M) Opposes Govt Amendments to RPA

 The Rajya Sabha has passed by voice vote two important amendments to the Representation of Peoples Act. One of these amendments dispenses with the stipulation that a candidate seeking election to Rajya Sabha from a state must belong to that very state. Obviously this amendment defeats the very purpose of creation of the Rajya Sabha as the Council of States.

The second amendment dispenses with the need of secret ballot in the elections to Rajya Sabha citing the need to counter money and muscle power in these elections.

The CPI(M) had already made it clear its opposition to both these changes when they were first proposed. Below here,we reproduce excerpts from the speech given by the CPI(M) chief whip in Rajya Sabha, Nilotpal Basu on April 8, opposing these amendments:

AT the outset, I would like to make it abundantly clear that our Party had opposed the provisions of this amendment right at the stage of introduction, and we continue to oppose the provisions of this Bill. This Bill is going to decide the fate of this House which is otherwise, called the Council of States. At a given point in time, the Council of States captures the complex, the heterogeneous, the diverse political reality of the state, unlike the House of the People. The actual political reality, the actual culture that is obtaining in the states is expressed in the collectivity of the composition of the Council of States. That was the idea which was built up in the Constitution. For paucity of time, I do not want to go extensively into the debates of the Constituent Assembly as to why the Council of States was needed when there was the House of the People. When people directly elected their representatives, what was the need for having the Council of States? It was precisely, to have an expression of the realities that obtained in the states that the Council of States was needed. The question that, therefore, arises is, to be elected to the Council of States from a particular state, how do they actually qualify to represent those states in the Council of States?

If I am not an ordinarily resident, I will not be aware of the problems of the state, I will not be aware of the concerns of the state. How can I articulate the concerns of the state, which is one of the fundamental qualifications for me to be a member of the Council of State? Then, you come to the core of the problem of our democratic system today.

In any textbook of democracy, anywhere in the world, universal adult franchise and secret ballot are the two essential ingredients of democracy. Why? It is because as opposed to dissent or dissidence, difference of opinion is an essential ingredient of democracy. Therefore, an open ballot, which is to stifle the difference of opinion, is something which is antithetical to democracy. Therefore, we are actually striking at the very root of a very significant feature of the democracy for the sake of our own convenience.

This amendment has this great pretension of upholding very lofty ideals, that we are going to stop the influence of money power in politics; we are going to stop horse-trading. But you will go to wholesale horse-trading from retail horse-trading. Instead of buying individual Members from a party for voting, you buy smaller parties --- four member or five member parties --- and you get elected. So the pretension on which this Bill is premised is totally misplaced.

Federalism is a big question in our country today. Therefore, we have to strengthen the process whereby there is cooperative federalism. Without substituting them with an even more improved manner in which a person is better and more appropriately representing a state, if we abolish whatever distinguishing features are there, that will be a very major setback to the process of federalism that is developing in this country. Therefore, looking at the current requirements of the political process and current difficulties that the political system is facing. I think that this Bill is not going to help us in our problems in politics overall, or in better constitution of the Council of States, which is a very, very important institution, as has been envisaged by our Constitution-makers. Therefore, we oppose this Bill with whatever strength we have.