More on the Election Commission

So we have an unfair Election Commission. Whoop dee doo! So many countries don't have an impartial Election Commission, not even our beloved United States of America. In the US, state governments regulate election laws, leading to confusing contradictions, and complicated ways to rig the election. Our ways of rigging elections pale in comparison (in finesse, not in effectiveness) to theirs - booth capturing, intimidation and killing opponents. Our democracy is an extremely fragile coalition of fundamentalists, Macchiavellians and common thugs, all of whom are ready to do anything for power. The Election Commission's job description is to keep these forces from hijacking our country. By selling out to a particular party, it sheds what little credibility it posessed. And that is exactly what the promotion of Navin Chawla would do.

NAVIN CHAWLA IS A DISGRACE TO THE ELECTION COMMISSION.

His past contacts with the Congress Party, especially his role in the 1975 Emergency should automatically disqualify him from the Election Commission. But it doesn't.

His embezzlement of MPLADS funds for his Chaman Lal Education Trust should lead to his removal from the IAS for corruption, as well as legal proceedings against him. But they don't.

When somebody speaks out against the man and the government's obvious shielding of the man, he is censured by the government and the corporate media for overreach.

In a democracy, no one should be above the law. Navin Chawla apparently is.

Here's a page that shares my views. Note that it spoke out two years ago.

http://www.newstodaynet.com/2006sud/06feb/0902ss1.htm

Again, I do NOT support the BJP. I will NOT vote for them in the General Elections. I believe it is a cancer to this country. However, I do not and can not support the appointment of an obvious partisan like Navin Chawla.

Damn, that felt good.

On the Election Commission

OK. A serious post, this. The airwaves and the press have been full of the news of CEC N Gopalaswamy's suo motu action against EC Navin Chawla. Most of this has been criticism by esteemed lawyers and jurists against this action, which they termed "overreach". The entire controversy pissed me off, especially as I am an election afficionado (some prefer the term fanatic), so I did what any conscientious Bong would do - I wrote a letter to the Hindu. Since they probably won't publish it, I decided to put it up on the blog as well. Here it is...

Like any other regular reader, I noticed your relentless efforts to give as much publicity as you could to the latest controversy in the Election Commission. Maybe it was an attempt to push an exclusive story, or righteous indignation at political involvement in the Election Commission, or (and I sincerely hope this is not the case) some undue pressure to give a struggling government a leg to stand on in an Election Year, the didactic headlines and endless articles about Gopalaswami's constitutional overreach gave a whiff of partiality. However, the articles were extremely well-written, and gave me an insight I always wanted into the Election Commission.
We claim to be the world's greatest democracy. The Election Commission is an integral part of that claim. After all, recently they have provided free and fair elections, be it in Bihar, West Bengal or Jammu and Kashmir. That does not, however, mean that the constitution of the Election Commission is perfect, and the current fracas underscores that reality. How can the Election Commission be truly impartial when it is appointed by the President, i.e. the government of the day? Yes, provisions exist that protect the EC from governmental action against them, but does the government not have full authority to appoint party loyalists to the post? Case in point: Navin Chawla. A man who the Justice Shah Commission denounced as "unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others," he was a loyalist to the Gandhis, and one of the chief perpetrators of the constitutional excesses of the 1975 Emergency. Of course, the return of Indira Gandhi to the PM post was enough to bury the findings of the Shah Commission, and he went from strength to strength.
The petition against Navin Chawla cannot be acted upon unless it is sent to the EC via the President, i.e. the government. Without the consent of the government Chawla is supposed to be partial to, action can't be taken! Am I the only one who sees something wrong here? Yes, Gopalaswami's suo motu action dragged the EC into a controversy, but at least it was better than the alternative: do nothing and have a government loyalist in charge of the commission that regulates the elections. After all, the Chief Election Commissioner can't be removed from office before the natural end of his term. Now, I abhor the policies of the BJP, but I do love my country enough to speak out against injustice. And the Congress' Machiavellian attempt to hold on to power in the form of Navin Chawla is an injustice to the people of this nation.
Yours sincerely
Ajachi Chakrabarti

Room No. 150, AH6
BITS Pilani Goa Campus
Opp NH 17-B
Zuarinagar
Goa - 403726

More later...

I'm back!! (again)
The last time I wrote in this blog, it was May 19, 2008. I was in deep shit, having flunked most of the copious amounts of entrance exams I gave. Somehow, however, I managed to get into BITS Pilani, Goa Campus, and that's where I am now.
Anyways, I've been in college for nine months now, and now that the gestation period is over, I finally have an idea of the place and my place in it. But, let me be honest (damn, where's the cursor?), the only reason I'm writing this is because I actually got a hit, and a comment!! (thanks Ayush). So now that I officially have a reader (or rather a biped who actually found my blog, and found it any good), I might as well continue with it.
So here goes...