In praise of CECs Seshan, Lyngdoh
Julio Ribeiro
As the hate speeches by netas canvassing for votes in the Delhi Assembly elections increase, I am reminded of TN Seshan, who died a few months ago. When he was the country’s Chief Election Commissioner, he scared the living daylights out of our politicians. He brought order and discipline into the electoral process and made it a model to be copied by other democracies. Most Chief Election Commissioners who succeeded him were votaries of independence and rectitude but I shall mention only one, JM Lyngdoh, for reasons mentioned later.
In the Modi-Shah regime, the Election Commissioners have not lived up to those standards that commanded respect of even advanced countries that hold elections regularly.
When a leading journalist, Rajdeep Sardesai, interviewed the Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sunil Arora, some months ago, he asked the CEC how he would react to the letter sent to the President bemoaning the loss of credibility of the Election Commission. The letter was signed by 66 former bureaucrats. I, too, was a signatory.
The signatories were more concerned with the reluctance of the Commission to act like an independent, constitutional body which has been empowered to lay down the law and show the flag to offending politicians and the political parties they represented. A naked display of constitutional authority was more required in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections than any time in the past, considerably more than would have been needed even during the rule of Indira Gandhi.
TN Seshan and James Michael Lyngdoh (to give him his full name in the stated style of a former Chief Minister of Gujarat who tried to bully him, but failed!) were men of steel who knew the importance of not only being fair and just, but also appearing to India’s voters that they were indeed fair and just! This essential ingredient of a free and fair election was sadly missing in 2019! It was bound to sully the good name of an institution that has long been the pride of our polity at home and abroad.
Using cricketing analogies, I note that the BJP has opened its innings with one recognised batsman, Amit Shah, and Minister Anurag Thakur, who incidentally was a recognised cricketer in his pre-political days. Thakur has been sent back to the pavilion, caught and bowled for raising a very contentious slogan that identified non-violent protesters at Shaheen Bagh as traitors. Amit Shah is still batting because the Election Commission’s umpires are still vary of declaring him out.
Two other batsmen who followed the opening pair have also returned to the pavilion. The star batsman who can be compared to Virat Kohli has not yet come to the crease. The umpires will have to use all their wits — and their courage — to declare him out in case he is trapped leg before wicket! It is a difficult assignment and I am sure Sunil Arora will not get many volunteers to bell the cat! Again, he will have to decide the issue himself.
Our present Prime Minister is not a person to be crossed. If you recollect his spat with JM Lyngdoh, Mr Modi, then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, did not get his way in the choice of dates for the Assembly elections. He was so angry that he even accused Lyngdoh and Sonia Gandhi of meeting in church and getting instructions from the Pope! His Intelligence chief should have informed him that Sonia Gandhi and James Lyngdoh belonged to different Christian denominations which would preclude them from going to the same church to pray.
The Intelligence chief should have informed him that Mrs Gandhi did not attend church for whatever reasons and Lyngdoh because he was an atheist. Even the then Prime Minister Vajpayee and senior BJP leader, Murli Manohar Joshi, were moved to remind Mr Modi to be careful about his speech!
If they keep Seshan in their mind’s eye when they have to take decisions that will anger the Prime Minister, they will muster the courage to put their feet down and do the right thing. The elections in Delhi and, more pertinently, in West Bengal after a year, will provide an opportunity to Sunil Arora and his peers to correct public perceptions about their impartiality.
I am glad the EC has come down quickly on Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Sahib Singh. This is a beginning but the exercise should be carried on vigorously to show the Commission means business.
