----- Original Message -----
From: floriano
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2010 2:46 PM
Subject: Your Editorial - WRONG STEP - TOI 14 June, 2010 - Our views.
"A thought for Today":
The UP government is not only violating the Constitution, but is reducing it
to a joke.
Wrong Step
Up bans political parties in election to urban bodies.
TOI - June 14, 2010
To,
The Editor,
Times of India.
Sir,
Subject: Total disagreement with your stand above.
It is seen that you are totting the BJP's line that the UP ban on political
parties in self-governance urban body elections is the WRONG STEP. On the
contrary, apart from Mayawati trying to play spoil-sports in these
elections, the UP government's decision is the right one and this decision
should be unilaterally enforced on all states in the Indian Union for being
the eye-opener for once.
Panchayat and Urban Municipal bodies are self-governing bodies and do not
come under the Election Commission of India's mandate in its elections.
These come under the State Election Commission and therefore totally
non-partisan in nature.
You must know that the candidates in these elections cannot display party
symbols. If this is done, then the candidate can be disqualified. It is
another thing that political parties flout the non-partisan nature of these
bodies by claiming victories to political parties by virtue of the candidate
is the member of the party.
There is no restriction on any person/s contesting these non-partisan
elections to the self-governing bodies for being a party member of a
particular political party. But this is personal preference. The political
party has no right to claim that these bodies are affiliated to them just
because the members elected to these bodies are the members of the party and
cannot and must not interfere in the working of these self-governing bodies.
If this is not so, then the Indian democracy is heading for the cliff as
there will be no place left for a person who chooses to stay outside the
partisan arena to take part in these most vital grass-roots elections. The
Constitution of India guarantees this right to a person to stay outside the
partisan arena and still take part in self-governance of the city/town or
the village.
There is a clear distinction between the Panchayat and Urban bodies and the
Legislative Assembly bodies. The former is self-governing non-partisan and
the later are political-partisan.
The central government needs to clarify this position. In what way does UP
flout the Constitutional provisions? When media makes half-baked attempt
to asset things which are wrong because their sworn ideologues like the BJP
MPs argue on these lines, it sends a completely wrong and confusing signal
to the people.
The claims of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal of having won the battle
in Urban elections is totally wrong and ultra-virus of the Constitution of
India. This is the same thing that is happening in Goa where political
parties claim victories to the Panchayat and Municipal elections when the
elections itself are not fought, and cannot be fought on political party
lines.
With the involvement of political parties in the self-governing electoral
arena, the money power, goondaism, kidnapping and the most detrimental to
the progress of the concerned localities, the 'no-confidence motions' and
'disruptions of gram sabhas' has become the bane of these institutions.
Therefore there must be a blanket ban on partisan political involvement in
the self-governing institutions. If this is done, the nation will do well
and there is a fair chance that the great Mahatma's wishes will come true,
perhaps.
You are welcome to prove me wrong.
Thanking you
Yours truly,
Sd/-
Floriano Lobo
Gen. Secretary,
Goa Su-Raj Party
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is not ENOUGH that GOOD, HONEST citizens contest elections.
It is not ENOUGH that GOOD, HONEST citizen voters elect good, honest
representatives.
GOA urgently needs 'GOOD, HONEST, DISCIPLINED SYSTEM of GOVERNANCE'.
Wherein, even a dishonest person is forced to be good, honest n disciplined,
or to QUIT.
Only through PPS can such 'good, honest n disciplined system of governance'
be identified and accepted.
PPS GOA =PEOPLE for POLITICAL SANITY = PEOPLE'S POWER SYSTEM
for a date in 2012
Display the 'PPS' sticker on your vehicle today, to reject political madness
tomorrow.
***
The UP government's decision to ban political parties from fielding
candidates in the upcoming election to urban bodies is flawed. It goes
against one of the basic premises of our electoral democracy, which is the
right of the people to organize and contest elections under the banner of a
political party. The opposition in UP, united against the government
decision, believes the move is aimed at manipulating the election in favour
of the ruling party. The apprehension is not without reason.
Elections in India are centered on political parties, which is not
necessarily a bad thing. Most of these parties may have failed to rise to
the expectations of the citizens or master the skills necessary to govern.
Independent legislators and councilors may make for better administrators
than those with party affiliations, but this is not a given in every
case.[ ?? ] We do need more professionals to join politics and contest
elections. But that shouldn't mean a blanket ban on political parties.
Rather, parties themselves should be reformed so that public-minded
individuals can join the electoral process without having to draw support
from communal identities like caste, religion, ethnicity and lineage. It is
impossible, and perhaps unnecessary, to reorganize politics in India around
non-party platforms.
Interestingly, many more people without party affiliation get elected to
panchayati raj institutions than to Parliament and state legislatures. Local
dynamics, especially the limited size and spread of the electorate, allow
individuals and small groups with limited financial resources and manpower
to win local body elections. Will these positive trends be strengthened by a
ban on political parties? Hardly. Political parties will most likely
circumvent the ban by fielding proxy candidates. Since independents are not
bound by the anti-defection law parties are likely to bid for them after the
election. Outfits that hold office and have access to finance are likely to
benefit from such a situation. In fact, Mayawati's political opponents
allege that the BSP intends to court independent candidates after the
election and gain office in urban centers, which have traditionally favoured
other parties.
Indian politics is already a murky affair. If we are serious about reforming
it we need to have more transparency in elections and in government
formation. The last thing we need is to create a political climate that
provides incentives to horse-trading.
