Vajpayee moots fixed tenure for Parliament

In his address, Vajpayee, whose government was toppled by one vote in 1999 in the Lok Sabha, strongly advocated a fixed tenure for Parliament and state legislatures saying this "is essential for our democratic system to become mature and deliver good governance."

He expressed happiness that the Constitution Review Commission had initiated a public debate "on this important issue."

Narayanan utilised the occasion to make a fervent plea to political parties to refrain from giving tickets to individuals with criminal background to deal effectively with the menace of criminalisation of politics.

Vajpayee termed as "malignant" the trend of corruption and criminalisation of the poll process and said it was high time that all political parties evolved a consensus on how to check it.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi said that immediate measures be taken to ensure that candidates with suspected integrity and criminal background did not sully public life.

On the Women’s Reservation Bill, which has been eluding a political consensus, the Prime Minister referred to the Election Commission’s "constructive suggestion" to provide reservation to women within parties and said the government had an "open mind" to consider any constructive proposal.

Narayanan said political parties had the power to give sufficient tickets to women. "In all this, the EC also can play a very useful role," he said.

Gandhi said "concrete action" must be taken to strengthen democracy and electoral system, reduce cost of polls and curb the menace of defections.

The Congress president said time had come to provide adequate representation to women in higher levels of democracy – Parliament and state legislatures.

Seeking adequate steps to put an end to the criminalisation of politics, Balayogi said Parliament needed to consider the issues of delimitation of constituencies and representation of women.

Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill said government and political parties should effectively check the menace of money and muscle power, and stressed on the need to find a quick solution to the question of representation for the fair gender at all levels.

Gill’s oft-repeated slogan for a `Lakshman rekha’ of self restrain around political parties today found focus when the Prime Minister in a lighter vein asked him to draw it.

Gill pleaded with all political parties to "sometimes sit in a quiet conclave, and draw a `Lakshman rekha’ of self-restrain around themselves."

Reacting to Gill’s remarks, Vajpayee in his usual flourish quipped "Lakshman hamare paas hai. Aap rekha kheech digiye. Hum usko manenge." (we have Lakshman. You draw a line, we will observe it").

Gill recalled his tenure as CEC during which he supervised three parliamentary elections since 1996 and 33 assembly elections accounting for about three billion voters and said "I am confident that I could apply for a small mention in the Guinness Book of Records, for the number of voters, whose election participation, I have had something to do with."