People's Democracy

End This Biased Exercise

CPI(M) To EC On Office of Profit Issue

A GAME is on in the country to try weaken the Left under the guise of the ‘office of profit’ issue, more so in the background of the recent assembly polls. And a section of the media is actively assisting in this game. Unfortunately, even a constitutional body like the Election Commission (EC) also appears to be furthering this game through some of its actions whose impartiality is not beyond doubt. This was stated by CPI(M) central secretariat member and former Rajya Sabha member Nilotpal Basu while addressing a press conference at the Party headquarters in Delhi on June 2.

One may recall that Nilotpal Basu was among the ten CPI(M) MPs against whom Mukul Ray of the Trinamul Congress has brought the wild charge that they were holding the offices of profit while remaining a member of parliament.

While questioning the Election Commission’s impartiality on this issue, Nilotpal Basu said there were similar charges against Balbir Punj of the BJP but the Election Commission declared his case closed after his retirement from the Rajya Sabha. However, Basu’s case is still alive in the EC even though he has retired from the Rajya Sabha. Moreover, the charge of holding an office of profit was brought against him when he was associated with a non-government organisation even though the latter had nothing to do with the government, nor received any grant etc from the government.

Basu directly challenged the propaganda about the Left sticking to the offices of profit. He posed the question as to why the EC was strengthening this misconception by flashing the names etc of Left MPs on its website in case with the office of profit issue while it had itself admitted in its letter to the complainant (Mukul Ray) dated May 3, 2006, that he had not made available to the commission necessary information or documents in support of his allegations. He also ridiculed the EC’s contention that the concerned Left MPs might not be feeling any inconvenience as the commission had not issued them any notice in connection with the allegation. In this context, Basu also asked whether a constitutional body like the EC should not have displayed the requisite respect for another coinstitutional position like that of Lok Sabha speaker. He demanded that the baseless hearings against the Left MPs should be stopped forthwith.

Basu recalled how the Trinamul leader had, on the eve of assembly polls in West Bengal, sent a complaint letter to the president against ten CPI(M) MPs including the Lok Sabha speaker --- as a cheap propaganda gimmick and perhaps on the basis of the information they had provided for the parliament’s information booklets. By the time it came out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and reached the Election Commission, this very baseless and non-serious complaint had assumed the shape of a media trial of the said MPs and enabled the media to conclude that the Left was insistent on clinging to offices of profit. Expressing concern over a constitutional body objectively creating a favourable condition for such media trials, Basu asked whether constitutional bodies are required to act like post offices. He also raised the question whether the EC is desirous of keeping this allegation indefinitely alive when it had itself twice extended the time limit for the complainant to produce material in support of his allegation.

The former CPI(M) MP tried to remove some of the misconceptions prevailing on the ‘office of profit’ issue. He said it was wrong to think that accepting any other post except an elected one was improper. On the contrary, he was of the opinion that, given the development of the political system in the country, it was quite natural for the people’s elected representatives to associate with various developmental institutions; moreover, it was necessary in the people’s interest. He reminded how the people’s elected representatives are formally associated in bodies like DRDA, panchayat samities and zila boards. Is it improper? He said a restriction on the people’s elected representatives associating with such bodies has justification only where the powers of the executive are being used or additional salaries or allowances etc are being accepted.