Uttar Pradesh, it is often held, holds the key to power in New Delhi. Therefore, it is not surprising that most political parties with national ambitions expend considerable energy in trying to “win” that state. The Congress is no exception.
Yet in the hurly-burly of campaigning, a senior Congress leader—Salman Khurshid, who also happens to be the Union minister for law and justice and minorities affairs—has violated the model code of conduct in the state. In January, during the course of an election rally in Farrukhabad, he made an announcement on 9% reservation for minorities within the 27% quota for other backward classes. In an elaborate, 15-page order delivered on Thursday, all that the Election Commission (EC) did was to “censure” Khurshid and said it hoped and expected that he would not violate the model code of conduct in the future.
Congress leader and Union law minister Salman Khurshid. Photo: PTI
For seasoned administrators to pin hopes on a verbal rap can only be called naïve. This course of action was unlikely to have any effect on the errant minister and it did not. Barely a day later, the minister stated that he would ensure the rights of the Pasmanda Muslim community even if the EC “hangs” him.
In response, chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, shot off a letter to President Pratibha Patil pleading that “The Election Commission of India finds it necessary and unavoidable to turn to you at this juncture for immediate and decisive intervention so that the ongoing general election to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly is conducted, and this Commission discharges its functions, in accordance with the Constitution and the law.”
This is clearly a job of the EC and not the President. In an earlier age, the commission would have countermanded/postponed polling in any constituency where such violations of the code of conduct occurred. This is not just a matter of a minister not listening to the EC or its helplessness in disciplining someone violating the code of conduct. It sends a very powerful signal that a body empowered to ensure a level playing field in the electoral arena is unwilling to do its job. Clearly, the EC needs to impart stronger medicine on erring politicians.
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