The nine-year-old BJP regime has had a few hallmarks — misuse of investigative agencies, the scuttling of dissent inside and outside Parliament and implicit state support to communal and mob violence. But of all the characteristic elements, the one that will have the gravest long-term consequence on our political system and social fabric is the weakening of governance institutions and dismantling of the country’s democratic framework.
Independent and robust institutions have played an important role in ensuring India’s unity, economic progress, social cohesion, and grass roots development. They have allayed Sardar Patel’s fears of balkanisation of an independent India, and have ensured that democracy survives, and the guarantee of liberty, equality and justice is preserved. But the BJP government fears this distribution of power and independent decision-makers.
The latest in the series of attacks is the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023. In March, the Supreme Court had put a stop to the adhocism in the appointment of CEC/ECs and had ruled that a high-power committee comprising the prime minister, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the chief justice of India would select CEC/ECs. But under the Bill, the CEC/ECs will be picked by a committee comprising the PM, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, and a cabinet minister nominated by the PM.
It is a no-brainer that the government seeks to have complete control of the selection process, which will effectively give it excessive sway over how the Elections Commission functions. Not only will this grant the ruling party immoral and illegitimate domination over the election process, but will also undermine free and fair elections which are the bedrock of any democracy and a part of the Basic Structure of our Constitution. The presence of the chief justice and leader of the Opposition ensured a balance of powers and interests in the selection process, but the new committee will have no semblance of neutrality.
It is also shocking that the government wants to equate the salary, allowances, and service conditions of the Chief Election Commissioner with that of the cabinet secretary instead of a Supreme Court judge. The Election Commission is an independent, impartial, and neutral body that lies outside the framework of executive government. But the amendment symbolically downgrades the office of the CEC.
A clear pattern is emerging, which will put any right-minded citizen into a mode of speculation and cynicism. In 2019, the Centre amended the RTI Act to ensure that the term of office and salary of Information Commissioners was no longer constitutionally and statutorily protected but would lie at the whims of the central government. This was a blatant assault on the independence of the information regime which had been won after an extensive people’s movement. It replaced the Planning Commission that provided states a voice in the development strategy of the nation, with a centralised NITI Aayog. The Centre is making repeated attempts to diminish the power of state electricity regulators. Above all, it continues to sit on collegium recommendations so that it can cherry-pick judges who are amenable to its strategy and propaganda.
The term of heads of investigative agencies continues to be a battlefront. The Centre has made repeated efforts to keep the tenure extension of heads of ED and CBI under its discretionary control to ensure that these agencies can be unleashed on political opponents and concretise the pseudo-narrative of a corrupt opposition versus an honest BJP. Consequently, the unscrupulous transactions of BJP leaders, their role in instigating riots and communal violence, and in sexual offences against women get completely eclipsed from the public’s view.
The Bill also showcases how the central government holds no regard for Supreme Court decisions and is on a spree to undermine every constitutional interpretation that the apex court makes. After the resounding 2018 SC verdict recognising that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi was bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, the Centre amended the GNCTD Act granting the LG more powers than is constitutionally permissible. In 2021, after the SC struck down the Tribunals Reforms Ordinance, Central Government ensured that Parliament passes the Tribunal Reforms Bill with nearly identical provisions. This year, just eight days after the SC recognised the executive power of Delhi’s elected government to control administrative services in the national capital, the Centre promulgated an Ordinance to overturn that judgment.
The BJP government has a clear message for India. First, it wants control of every institution, as it believes that its vision of development is the only correct strategy, and so it can cover up its blunders and the misdeeds of its leaders. Second, it will misuse institutions to get rid of any dissenting voice and will wipe out the political opposition. And third, the Constitution and its interpretation by the Supreme Court are not as important as the decisions of the BJP top brass which dictates parliamentary outcomes through an untrammelled majority in the Lok Sabha.
With the G20 summit around the corner, political developments in India are being keenly watched. There seems to be a foreshadowing in our country that painfully looks like the attempts in Israel to curb judicial power. At a time when India is re-asserting itself as the “Mother of Democracy”, the BJP should not downgrade the actual democratic culture and system. The CEC-EC Bill is antithetical to free and fair elections and has no place in the “Mother of Democracy”.
The writer is an advocate & national spokesperson, AAP
