Right To Reject: One Historic For Voters, One Shocker From Rahul!

The Supreme Court of India gave a historic judgment today. The public litigation petition demanding the Right to Reject for voters had been pending for last nine years and Anna Hazare during his Movement against Corruption in 2011-12 made a lot of hue and cry for this too. Today the Supreme Court put its seal of approval on this. Now voters can reject all the candidates in his constituency if s/he thinks all of them are crooks and useless.  There will be a new option in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), ‘None Of The Above’, so that all candidates of all parties could thereby be rejected by the voter. Exactly when the EVMs are going to be adjusted or the date of effect to this decision is a matter of pure speculation at the moment.

This is basically a negative vote, but the apathetic voters now need not sit at home and abstain from their constitutional duty. They can go to the polling booths and exercise their Right to Reject by voting for the new option. Maybe Voters’ Apathy could finally be tackled effectively. This landmark judgment has huge dimensions in terms of its possible repercussions, cascading impact and the final result. Politicians of all parties have been very guarded in their reactions and justifiably so. Already haunted by the words like ‘split votes’ or ‘hung houses’ they are scared indeed at the core of their hearts as to what this may finally lead them and the country to. The Supreme Court verdicts must be respected and followed at all costs. The consternation is more due to the Assembly Elections lined up for December, 2013 and then the real humdinger of a General Election in April-May, 2014. The Supreme Court very clearly points out that voting is a constitutional right while the right to reject is always a fundamental right. For all lesser mortals it is indeed a cause for great celebration.

Although not corroborated by facts the Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi seemed to have been so very much inspired by this ‘right to reject’ that it immediately guided him making a brief appearance at an explosive press conference and rejecting the Ordinance on convicted politicians promulgated by his own government. At the Press Club in Delhi along with Congress General Secretary Ajay Maken Rahul said that the Ordinance was complete nonsense and that ‘it must be torn up and thrown in the dustbin’. He elaborated that all political parties made such compromises to suit their ends and his own party made a mistake in this same way. Just before making a dramatic exit Rahul was quick to add that this was his ‘personal opinion’. In the process he managed to shock literally everyone of all hues and colors—his own UPA government, all opposition parties, all varieties of the media and all citizens at large. Ajay Maken, continuing the press conference, supported Rahul by saying that his word is Congress policy. Several other Congress ministers followed with their support to their future poll prospect. That it has caused one more profound embarrassment for the distressed UPA government and finally the  Prime Minister who is presently in the USA is anybody’s safe guess. Some News channels have already started raging debates if the Prime Minister should really resign now. The opposition political parties including BJP especially seem to be fighting to come out of daze to properly react.

The Union Cabinet on 24^th September had cleared the Ordinance to negate another landmark judgment of the Supreme Court that struck down a provision in the electoral law which allowed a convicted MP and MLA to continue in their post if they make an appeal to a higher court within three months and ruled that if convicted for a crime with a punishment of more than two years the concerned elected members must be disqualified instantly. This verdict was hailed in all sensible quarters in the country as an effective step to counter politicians with criminal backgrounds. The Government claimed that an all-party consensus had been reached on August 13 on this issue of negating the SC verdict and the BJP was very strongly in favor of legislation. Since the bill could not be passed in Parliament the Government took the Ordinance route. In this crazy political times the BJP vociferously opposed the Ordinance and yesterday represented with the President Pranab Mukherjee to send it back. This BJP move had tremendously angered the Government who termed it as the party’s consistent ‘double standards’. Now, with Rahul Gandhi coming out in opposition it is to be seen what the Congress led UPA government finally tells the President to do. In all, both these momentous events augur well for the lesser mortals of the country like us.

Meanwhile, the eloquent Information and Broadcasting Minister, Manish Tewary, seemed to in his elements at another press conference in the capital today just preceding the Rahul one. When asked by journalists to comment on the recent statement of Narendra Modi that ‘CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) is going to fight the coming general elections, not the Congress party’, the minister said, “At times the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi ends up speaking the truth only. Indeed, the CBI is going to fight the elections. The ‘Communal Bureau of Instigation’ is getting ready on his behalf for this’. And then he smiled, of course.

Indian Presidential Elections-2012: Pranab Mukherjee New President!

The Republic of India has got a new President elected today, July 22, 2012. Pranab Mukherjee, the former Finance Minister and the chief trouble shooter for the coalition government of India, has been declared elected for the top office. The poll for the post took place on 19^th July and counting of votes was taken up from today.

As expected, Pranab Mukherjee swept the elections winning nearly 70 percent of total votes cast. He got astounding support from the members of the Indian Parliament irrespective of party lines. The votes in the Indian states split up depending on which political party the particular state government belonged to, but there were surprises too in some of them in favor of Pranab. The fact that Pranab Mukherjee was a candidate no political party could possibly object got vindicated in the results.

It had been a straight contest between the UPA-2 (United Progressive Alliance—the ruling coalition) nominated Pranab Mukherjee and the largely self-styled candidate PA Sangma who was proposed by two regional parties initially and got nominated in the last minute by the NDA (National Democratic Alliance—the opposition of India), of course, with quite a few differences within it.

The Indian Presidential Election is not a direct poll with the people of the country voting while it is a direct election in the US. The system of Indian Presidential Poll is based on proportionate voting—the voters being the Members of both houses of Parliament (MP) and the Members of the Legislative Assemblies (MLA) and the Legislative councils of the states and union territories of the country. The value of the vote of An MLA is arrived at by dividing the total population of the state by the number of MLAs of that state multiplied by 1000. The vote value of an MP is arrived at by dividing the total of MLAs’ vote value by the number of MPs. Then both of the vote values are added to arrive at the grand total votes of the country. To get elected a Presidential candidate has to cross the halfway benchmark of total vote value.

In the Indian Presidential Elections-2012 Pranab Mukherjee secured 7, 13,763 votes crossing the halfway mark of 5, 25,140 votes with quite a few members abstaining. PA Sangma could secure only 3, 15,987 votes. Messages of greeting poured in for Pranab and the Prime Minister, the Congress President and other dignitaries visited him at his residence. The defeated candidate PA Sangma congratulated Pranab too, but at the same time he announced his resolve to go to the court alleging bias and partisanship in the process of the Presidential Elections-2012.

After a lot of twists and turns, and bouts of acrimony in the race to the Presidential Elections, Indiahas finally got a worthy personality for the top post. Congratulations to Pranab Mukherjee! He is the 13^th President of India to be elected and will be sworn in on July 25, 2012. The outgoing President Pratibha Patil is scheduled to deliver a farewell address to the nation on the evening of July 24.

Now it is over to the people of USAfor electing their President.

Indian Presidential Elections-2012: Finally Mamata U-Turns To Support Pranab!

After ushering in the most bizarre twist to the Indian Presidential Elections-2012 and after maintaining the most unmitigated suspense over her party's support Mamata Bannerji, finally, decided to vote for Pranab Mukherjee--the Presidential candidate nominated by the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA-2). The unstoppable Chief Minister of West Bengal had earlier said that her party, the TrinamoolCongress (TMC), would declare its decision 72 hours before the polling date on July 19, 2012. And today, with less than 48 hours to go, she informed the press in Kolkata that her party had no other option but to support Pranab and that she was doing it to uphold democratic traditions as abstaining from voting would've amounted to betrayal of the people. If fact, after her Kalam dramaMamata became helpless as her partner-of-the-day Mulayam Singh Yadav dumped her the moment Pranab Mukherjee’s name was officially announced. But the firebrand leader maintained even today that Pranab was a poor choice and Kalam had been the ideal one.

Anyway, the  'dear sister' had finally come out in favor of her ‘elder brother' perhaps thus ending the dilemma of the people of West Bengal in being able now to freely rejoice over the prospect of having the first ever Bengali President of the country. In the preceding days Mamata had been continuously approached by both Pranab Mukherjee and the self-styled Presidential candidate PA Sangma for her precious support. Now, the road for Pranab's landslide victory is almost clear while PA Sangma would be feeling utterly disappointed and maybe even let down. The Presidential Poll had become a contest thanks to the last minute decision of the main national opposition party (BJP) to nominate PA Sangma. 

Meanwhile, the process of electing India's Vice-President had also begun with UPA-2 nominating the present VP Hamid Ansari for a second term and the opposition's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominating veteran BJP leader, Jaswant Singh, for the post. The Vice-Presidential Elections-2012 is also poised for a straight contest between the two with odds in favor of Hamid Ansari as all of UPA-2 partners and the Left alliance had decided to support him. While several NDA partners who shied away to vote for Pranab Mukherjee had come back into the alliance to vote for Jaswant Singh the latter's chances were still considered dim. The ‘democratic’ contests for the prestigious posts of the country have come about thanks to a 'committed' opposition who does not believe in 'consensus' in the nation's interest and desperately want a mid-term poll to further aggravate the inflationary trends for which it always condemns the ruling coalition! 

'Pained' Mamata reiterated again her 'commitment' to oppose the ruling coalition from within on economic reforms that she did not believe in and true to her nature she kept the suspense on regarding her support for the Vice-Presidential candidate. For a change she did not mention the mandatory hours, but only said there was still enough time! Reports suggest she is most likely to support Ansari too as the Prime Minister had already requested her.

All set now for the 14^th Indian Presidential Elections-2012 on 19^th July and the results to be declared on July 22, 2012. 

Indian Presidential Elections-2012: The Race Turns Acrimonious!

Campaigning for the 14^th Presidential Elections-2012 started in full swing from June 30, 2012 after the two contesting candidates filed their nominations on 28^th June. While the citizens of India hoped for a dignified contest things threatened to take an acrimonious turn due to allegations and elements of desperation.

PA Sangma, the self-styled candidate initially proposed by a regional party of the eastern state of Odisha and ultimately supported by the national opposition party, was seemingly desperate to reach the Raisina Hill (the Presidential palace or Rashtrapati Bhavan is located in this area) playing on his tribal card and on the first ever tribal president of the country phenomenon stoutly. On July 2 his desperation became vocal as he chose to attack Pranab Mukherjee, the candidate supported by the ruling alliance and most other major political parties. .

Sangma demanded Mukherjee’s candidature be cancelled as Mukherjee was ineligible for the contest by allegedly holding on to an office of profit on the date of his filing nominations. Mukherjee was the Chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata. His poll managers immediately pointed out that Mukherjee resigned from the post on June 20 and that the office was also an honorary one, and that the concerned documents were already submitted.   On July3, on the basis of those documents the returning officer rejected Sangma’s claims and confirmed the existence of the two candidates for the elections on. Things did not end there though.

Sangma, now backed by his national ally, went on to allege that the documents were forged and asked the returning officer as to how he rejected the claims. As it was becoming increasingly acrimonious the Election Commission decided to ask the returning officer to show the documents. Alleging further that the papers were prepared in the last minute to save Mukherjee’s nomination PA Sangma and his political sponsors had kept even the option of approaching the courts open.

Pranab Mukherjee and his political sponsors dismissed the allegations as ‘frivolous’ and went ahead with the scheduled campaigning. Mukherjee asserted that the papers were signed by him only and that he failed to understand how he could forge his own signatures!

Earlier during initial stages of campaigning PA Sangma also threw a challenge of having an open debate with Pranab Mukherjee, maybe in the spirit of the US Presidential Poll unfolding in this same year. But as any intelligent reader would understand the citizens of India do not participate directly in electing their President like in the US. And, therefore, the challenge was dismissed as ‘meaningless’. Interestingly, another campaign has been going on to fathom Indian support for President Obama, and, a majority of Indians turn out in favor of Obama’s reelection. Why not, President Obama vibrates very well with a whole lot of Indians!

Meanwhile, the inimitable Mamata Bannerji announced that her party would declare their preferred candidate only 72 hours before the poll on July 19! Apart from creating suspense for all concerned this move also put the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), the main constituent of the Indian Left alliance, in some spot of trouble. The CPM justified its support for Mukherjee by saying that it did not want to end up in the same side with Mamata’s party. Now, if Mamata decides to reunite with the ruling coalition and support Mukherjee, the CPM though belonging to the same state of West Bengal would find it quite embarrassing.

The ironies involved in this Presidential Elections get a little more acute with the Chief Minister of Meghalaya opposing Sangma’s candidature. Both of them belong to the same North Eastern state and to the same tribe.

Seemingly, this contest is never going to ease up till the climax on July 22!

As per latest reports Sangma's sponsor, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) threatened to file an election petition against Pranab Mikherjee with the Election Commission of India. The Congress responded to the move by terming it as 'childish tricks'!

Indian Presidential Elections-2012: Nominations Filed!

After extending a last-minute and much deliberated support to PA Sangma the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition political party of India, ensured that the 14^th Presidential Elections to indirectly elect the 13^th President of India was going to be a contest. Pranab Mukherjee, the former Finance Minister who was given a rousing farewell on 26^thJune, 2012, Vs PA Sangma, a political leader from North East India and the former speaker of the lower house of Parliament.

Both of the Presidential candidates filed their nomination papers today. Flanked by the Prime Minister, the Congress President, many other Congress leaders and prominent leaders belonging to the political parties in the ruling coalition, Pranab Mukherjee filed his nomination in the morning in New Delhi. Talking to reporters afterwards the stalwart Congress leader and also a consistent trouble shooter for the ruling coalition expressed his gratitude for the honor and thanked all political parties for extending support to him. He said he would start poll campaign after June 30 till 15^th of July. 

After about two hours PA Sangma filed his nomination papers. He was flanked by the top BJP leaders, leaders of other supporting parties and prominent leaders from the North East. In his press briefing Sangma reiterated his commitment to over 100 million tribal population of the country and hoped for support from other parties.

Two ironical elements are involved in this Presidential Poll. The people of West Bengal would have rejoiced as a whole at the prospect of the first ever Bengali President, but for Mamata Bannerji…!

The people of the Meghalaya would have celebrated for the first ever Presidential candidate from this hilly state of North East India and in fact, the North East in totality would have been a happier lot at the prospect of having another President after the brief tenure of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed(originally from Assam and President in 1974 till his death in 1977), if only Sangma’s candidature was properly carried forward. Sangma’s party, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), opposed him vehemently rather than proposing. Being forced to resign from the NCP Sangma asserted his ‘non-political’ identity while his coalition-Minister daughter and sons who were still active members of the same party started campaigning for him and are still doing so.

Anyway, the contest is on. Last date for nominations is June 30 after which campaigning starts. Polling date is July 19 and the results will be out on July 22. The electoral college consisting of the members of the Parliament and the state assemblies and members of other legislative councils has a strength of over 1 million votes. Pranab Mukherjee seems to be heading for a landslide victory with about 700,000 votes in his favor.

The citizens of Indian would hope the electoral process to steer clear of lobbying and dirty politicking in the coming days.

Indian Presidential Elections-2012: The Opposition Dilemma!

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who leads the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) first suggested the name of former President APJ Abdul Kalam for the Presidential Elections of India to be held on July 19, 2012. They made a tactical blunder by neither consulting the NDA partners nor asking Kalam for his willingness or consent. The move thus got nipped in the bud as most political parties remained shut. 

As the name of Pranab Mukherjee, the present Finance Minister, came up a consensus seemed to be building up slowly, because no party could really object to his candidature. The gradual build-up was brought down abruptly by Mamata Banerji’s bombshell! She managed to team up with a tricky Mulayam Singh Yadav and offered three names including Kalam and even the serving Prime Minister of India. After Congress's straight rejection Mamata stuck to Kalam and only Kalam. The BJP or the NDA did not react immediately to Kalam’s candidature as they must have been assessing the larger political opportunities that could come out of this most bizarre turn. They made one more tactical blunder, again on Kalam. 

The Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA-2), the ruling coalition of India, took just two days of brainstorming to deliver a masterstroke by officially declaring the name of Pranab Mukherjee as the presidential candidate. Mulayam Singh Yadav forgot Mamata suddenly and offered support as a faithful ally. Mamata got totally isolated and turned to Facebook for solac! Several other opposition political parties also offered support for Pranab. 

Meanwhile, PA Sangma had continued to be the only self-declared candidate officially in the race. He was the co-founder of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)—an important constituent of the UPA-2 and a traditional ally of the Congress. The NCP first requested and then started issuing stern warnings to Sangma to withdraw from the race or face expulsion from the party. The NCP had already declared its support for the UPA-2 consensus candidate. Sangma somehow hoped to get the full support of the NDA and therefore continued to be in the race justifying his commitment towards the Indian tribal population of more than 100 million. He even approached Mamata for support and got rebuffed soundly. 

Now, the most logical option for the NDA or the BJP would have been to support Pranab Mukherjee as a consensus candidate, but the all-important electoral strategy for the next General Elections of 2014 or possibly for a mid-term election in 2013 prevented them from doing so. They feared that if they supported a Congress or UPA candidate they would lose the electoral advantage at this crucial juncture when the ruling coalition had been reeling under unmitigated opposition pressure. 

The NDA could not make up its mind to support Sangma because he was not a candidate of national significance or of immaculate profile as compared to either Pranab or Kalam. So, on June 17, 2012 they deliberated twice at a national level meeting and failed to arrive at a decision. 

On Monday, June 18 the BJP made a last-ditch effort to persuade Kalam to contest Pranab while its traditional ally in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena, did not take part in the meetings and declared its support openly for Pranab Mukherjee. To confound the NDA’s dilemma Kalam withdrew from the race on the evening of June18, 2012. 

So then, PA Sangma remained the only option for the opposition alliance now with pressures building up on him to withdraw anytime. At the moment opposition parties are running out of candidates to carry on the politics of opportunism. 

The Indian opposition parties were so obsessed with the prospect of a mid-term poll that the debate for their would-be Prime Ministerial candidate had already heated up with one constituent party chief demanding a secular prime minister. The BJP’s trump-card, Narendra Modi, could be the obvious bone of contention.

Divisions in the opposition camp are too openly visible for harboring any election ambition. If they aim at ruling a nation they must first understand what national pride is. Somebody within them said that Presidential election is very different from Parliamentary or assembly or local elections and one should not fight too much here! Right! That's national pride and honor!

And Finally It Is Pranab For President Of India!

The United Progressive Alliance-2 (UPA-2), the ruling coalition of India, finally delivered a political masterstroke by nominating Pranab Mukherjee, the present Finance Minister and a seasoned Congress leader, for the post of President of India today evening in New Delhi. All the twists and turns, all the politics of unholy alliances have been put to rest now. Well, hopefully… since even the most opposed political party would find it very difficult to reject Pranab Mukherjee. The citizens of India can have a sigh of relief now at the prospect of having a consensus candidate and a most worthy one for the top post.

Several political parties within and out of the UPA-2 have already extended support for Pranab. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the opposition combine of the country, too might very well go in for a consensus as they failed to find or convince a suitable candidate who could offer a strong contest. The NDA's decision is expected in a day or two. The Left parties too hardly have a choice to differ, though they have decided to announce their support or opposition after formal consultations.

And, Mamata Banerji’s convenient ally Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party had already declared support for Pranab. Mulayam justified the party decision by saying that the three names decided with Mamata were only suggestions and not at all binding. His decision is significant for other opposition parties, because his roared back to power in Uttar Pradesh on a huge anti-Congress wave. So now, Mamata became the only person opposed to Pranab and she and her party have been marginalized clinically. Even then, after being nominated for the top post the magnanimous Pranab Mukherjee, expressing his gratitude for the great honor, referred to Mamata as his ‘little sister’ and hoped to get her support eventually.

His name had  been discussed all the while for nearly two months, he had become the frontrunner in the Presidential race and almost attained the status of a consensus candidate  giving rise to the question as to why he was not nominated by the UPA-2 in the beginning itself. Maybe democratically that was not appropriate or maybe the state of political uncertainty delayed the inevitable. As a result murky and manipulative politics came to the fore, but finally it was worthiness and honor that prevailed. PA Sangma is still determined to contest, but his fate has been more or less sealed.

In Pranab Mukherjee we can have a President who can guide the Government in times of stress and make effective contribution to the governance of the country. In the entire history of independent India we have only one or two Presidents who strongly refused to be mere figureheads.