EC does it

Advani is right to support poll panel,ignore squirming BJP,on cancelled Jharkhand RS polls

Advani is right to support poll panel,ignore squirming BJP,on cancelled Jharkhand RS polls

The Election Commissions cancellation of the Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand is the jolt the system sorely needed. For some time now,it has been known that apprehensions of a creeping takeover of elections to the Upper House by money power are not entirely exaggerated. It has been an open secret that Jharkhand,in particular,serves as happy hunting ground for those who have an ambition to enter Rajya Sabha and the money to buy themselves a berth. Jharkhand,remember,is the state of fickle party loyalties. Its the new state where politics never settled down into predictable structures and habits,where fractured verdicts are followed by short-lived governments and,for a while,a band of entrepreneurial independents even became the nucleus of a government supported by political parties. Is it any surprise that MLAs votes are said to be bought and sold in Jharkhand? The ECs decisive intervention breaks this cycle of cynicism and restores a sense of scandal over the way RS polls are conducted in the state.

Even before the EC stepped in,this round of RS polls had attracted attention for the turbulence they set off in the BJP,part of the ruling coalition in the state. By all accounts,it propped up London-based businessman Anshuman Mishra as an independent candidate,and then hastily withdrew its support when the decision was questioned by a section of its central leadership. Meanwhile,Mishra posed for TV cameras and held forth on the alleged favours he had done senior party leaders. Even though the immediate furore subsided after an apology from the businessman,laffaire Mishra lingers on.

In the lull that follows the ECs decision,all parties,not just the BJP,must ask themselves tough questions about the crisis of leadership and judgement that makes it possible for political and deliberative institutions to be overtaken by those who are in the business of buying political support,who rely on money and not the hard labour of politics. By publicly speaking up for the ECs move in Jharkhand,even though his partys state unit had reportedly expressed unease with the cancellation of polls,senior BJP leader L.K. Advani has begun the discussion.