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Bihar polls : SC question mark

	September 19, 2005

An observation made by the Supreme Court on Thursday, September 8, hinting at the possibility of the revival of the dissolved Bihar Assembly, if the court struck down the May 23 Presidential proclamation dissolving it, has made the Election process in the state uncertain. Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, heading a Constitution Bench, said that the consequences of any order striking down the Presidential proclamation would have to be brought into effect. This implies that if the Proclamation is struck down as “bad in law”, the previous House would have to be revived.



“If the proclamation goes, everything goes,” Justice Sabharwal told Election Commission counsel S. Murlidhar, who drew the court’s attention to the fact that once the September 23 notification is issued, no court could interfere with the poll process.



“If that is the law, we will have to seriously consider a stay on the election process,” the bench said at one point. It, however, did not address the issue of interim relief when all parties agreed to drop their demand for a stay and agreed upon for a time-bound six-day hearing beginning on September 20.



The court accepted the Centre’s stand (spelt out both by the Attorney General and the Additional Solicitor General ) that courts, in view of Article 361, could not issue a notice to the Governor or implead him in a case for anything done or purported to be done in official capacity. However, the court reserved the right to scrutinise the Governor’s actions on two grounds, that is (i) if malafide was alleged, or (ii) the Act was ultra vires.





Uncertain allies



The position of alliances for contesting the Bihar Assembly elections, in case they are not blocked by the apex court, remains equally unclear. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has been unable to put its house in order and two of its constituents - the RJD and the Lok Janshakti Party - which matter in Bihar, refuse to have an alliance for the elections, or even seat-sharing. Congress president Sonia Gandhi met Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan at her residence on September 7 and told him to decide by September 23 whether he would be part of Congress-RJD combine for the Assembly polls. The deadline was set after both sides struck to their positions on the coming elections. While the Congress wants to have an alliance in Bihar with the RJD at the head, Paswan is firm on having no ties either with the RJD or the BJP, and also his demand for a Muslim Chief Minister of the State.



“I told Soniaji that if RJD can float the name of Rabri Devi for chief-ministership and NDA can project Nitish Kumar then why is my demand for a Muslim Chief Minister improper ?”



He even had a suggestion for the Congress think long-term rather than just this poll.







Digvijay Singh, who was present at the meeting along with Sonia’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, said Paswan had sought time to decide. Sonia, he said, told Paswan, “We cannot wait forever.” Singh said : “We have begun discussions (with RJD) for sharing seats.”



According to sources, Sonia has made up her mind to back Lalu - a decision that has the support of NCP Chief Sharad Pawar and the CPI(M).



They said that Lalu has offered to put aside 60 of the 243 seats for the three parties - 40 for Congress and 10 each for NCP and CPI(M). In February, Lalu had offered barely 25 seats to the Congress.



The UPA partners may even seek Paswan’s resignation from the Union Cabinet if he does not join them within the deadline. The LJP leader, according to them, is likely to float a fresh third front.



Left parties split on Bihar alliance



There is a division even among the Left parties on the question of allying with Lalu Prasad’s RJD or going with Ram Vilas Paswan Party. While the CPI(M) favours an RJD-led combine in the state, the CPI has moved in to defend the stand taken by LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan. CPI national secretary D. Raja criticised what he called the ultimatum issued by the Congress to Paswan on joining the Congress-RJD combine by September 23. He told reporters in New Delhi on September 8 that the CPI and Lok Janshakti Party along with the RSP and Forward Bloc have decided to contest the Bihar Assembly polls together. He said : “If Ram Vilas Paswan is put out of the UPA, it would mark the beginning of a major crack in the alliance. The Congress should tread carefully on this.” In Patna, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan cautioned the Congress against what he called intimidating Paswan. He said the UPA is confined to the Centre, and it is wrong on the part of the Congress to force Paswan to be a part of it in Bihar.



Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on his part added fuel to the fire by meeting Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi to press for Ram Vilas Paswan’s ouster from the UPA Government if he does not ally with the RJD-Congress-CPI(M) combine for the Bihar Assembly elections.



However, for the record, Lalu said after the meeting if Paswan is going to field candidates against the UPA candidates, “honesty demands that he should not stay in the UPA.” Having said this, Lalu tried to get into a moderate mode maintaining that “I am not campaigning for anybody’s ouster from the UPA.”



The strong reaction to the setting up of a deadline for Ram Vilas Paswan to decide on joining the secular alliance in Bihar led to the Congress backtracking on Friday, September 9. The party clarified that there is no need for any UPA constituent which stays away from the secular alliance in Bihar, to leave the ruling coalition at the Centre. Congress general secretary incharge of Bihar, Digvijay Singh, said it was not the Congress view that those who are not part of the alliance we are putting up in Bihar, should leave the UPA at the Centre.



While efforts were on to avert a split in the secular vote, the Congress would field candidates against the LJP if it contested separately. “We would like Paswan to be with us, otherwise indirectly he is helping the NDA”, Singh said.



On CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan’s observation that UPA was an arrangement at the Centre, he said : “Technically he is correct, but we would like to extend the UPA to the States also. After all, communalism is an issue in the states also.”





EC indicts Bihar Government for violating code



The Election Commission has come down heavily on the Bihar Government for making appointments to important posts after the announcement of the Assembly poll schedule. In a letter to the Chief Secretary, the Commission said that this is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The Commission reprimanded the officers responsible for the lapses in appointments to the Bihar State Minorities Commission, the Commission for Backward Classes and the 15-point Programme Implementation Committee.



In a separate case, the Election Commission indicted Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, for announcing a grant of Rs. 5 lakh to a school in Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency which is going to the polls later this month. The Chief Minister’s son, Deepender Singh, is the Congress nominee in the by election.



The Election Commission has refused to modify the poll schedule announced for the Bihar Assembly elections. Chief Election Commissioner B.B. Tandon said in Patna on September 7 that the dates are final and there would be no further change. Several political parties including constituents of the UPA had demanded that the poll schedule be compressed from the month-long one announced by the Commission. Some parties had demanded that the polls be held in a single phase, or at the most, in two phases instead of the four-phase schedule drawn up by the Commission.