Polity

KEY POINTS

·         Political parties play a central role in Indian democracy – the life blood of the entire constitutional scheme.

·         In other words, it is the Political Parties that form the Government, man the Parliament and run the governance of the country.

·         Political parties act as a conduit through which interests and issues of the people get represented in Parliament.

·         But, they have also been chiefly responsible for the growing criminalisation of politics.

·         Though the RPA 1951, disqualifies a sitting legislator or a candidate on certain grounds, there is nothing regulating the appointments to offices within the party.

·         Therefore, a politician may be disqualified from being a legislator, but may continue to hold high positions within his party, thus also continuing to play an important public role which he has been deemed unfit for by the law.

·         Convicted politicians may continue to influence law-making by controlling the party and fielding proxy candidates in legislature.

·         In a democracy essentially based on parties being controlled by a high-command, the process of breaking crime-politics nexus extends much beyond purity of legislators and encompasses purity of political parties as well.

·         Thus, the crime-politics nexus demands a range of solutions much broader than disqualification or any other sanctions on elected representatives.

Broader solution

·         It is necessary to introduce internal democracy, financial transparency and accountability in the working of the Political Parties.

·         Draft a separate law for regulating some of the internal affairs of political parties in order to deal with the crime-politics nexus.

·         In case of conviction on a criminal charge, apart from disqualification of the representative, a political party should be held responsible and be sanctioned in some way, for example, by de-recognition of the party.

·         Political parties should refrain from appointing or allowing a person to continue holding any office within the party organization if the person has been deemed to lack the qualities necessary to be a public official.

·         Therefore, the legal disqualifications that prevent a person from holding office outside a party should operate within the party as well. 

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