One may attribute bad governance in our country partly to inadequacy of law. It is true to some extent, and there are many people with a bad record who manage escape route through inadequacy of law. Law, in a sense, is not a one- time phenomenon; it is part of evolution of a democratic polity. Especially ever since we are faced with legalities of terrorism and terrorist related crimes, the general opinion among the law knowing people is that we need amendment and upgrading of existing laws. This is a debateable subject and opinions can differ. But the question that we would like to raise is this: Are the existing laws implemented in letter and spirit by law enforcing authority? Nobody will agree if the answer is yes laws are implemented fully.
Parliamentary elections are round the corner. We have exhaustive legal mechanism in place to govern the entire electioneering process. There are detailed guidelines for each and every aspect of election and polling process. Despite that, we still say that 35 per cent of sitting MPs have criminal record and are indicted for involvement in criminal cases. We also have members of State Legislative Assembly with shady antecedents. The question is how come these suspicious law makers could get access to the Assembly when Section 24-E of J&K Representation of the People Act- 1957 clearly describes the reasons for which a member can be disqualified from fighting election. Obviously those responsible with the enforcement of law did not enforce the law in letter and spirit. The fact of the matter is that if the laws governing election are enforced with firmness, most of the undeserving candidates would be found ineligible to fight election.
In this background, we should appreciate that the Election Commission of India (ECI), which has recently disqualified 48 persons in the State from fighting the forthcoming Parliamentary/Assembly elections for violating the provisions of the above mentioned Section of the Act. The reason given for announcing their disqualification is that they have not submitted details of expenditures they incurred on fighting the previous election? Here come in the stipulations of the Act. They have spent money to fight election. The Government wants them to furnish the details of the expenditures they have incurred on their election campaigning and the source from where the expended funds were obtained. Actually the government has been trying a mechanism that could be put in place to control use of black money in elections. It has been found that people with black or unaccounted money are the ones who enter politics and then making use of black money they have to win votes and carve out constituencies over which they establish their sway. This is how vote banks are created. Undoubtedly this is not acceptable to a true democratic country. The ECI had previously announced disqualification of more than two thousand candidates in the country and in the year 2009 as many as 3,275 contestants were disqualified.
A very unhealthy practice is gaining ground among some of the citizens in the country as well as in the State. The easy money that has come to them is a big temptation for them to enter politics and acquire some position of importance. The fact of the matter is that such persons want to make politics a means of personal attainments whereas the essential objective of an honest and patriotic political person is to serve the nation. Men with easy money or black money serve their interests and not the interests of the people. We appreciate the bold decision of the Election Commission in disqualifying the persons under law. It should become a deterrent for others and at the same time it is a healthy practice through which our democratic system can be strengthened.
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