WHITHER RESIGNATIONS AND BY-ELECTIONS

DESARAJU SURYA

Hyderabad: Repeated by-elections forced on people in Andhra Pradesh for one reason or the other have not only wreaked havoc in many forms in the last few years but also seemed to have pushed the main political parties to a flashpoint so much so that they are now seeking to arrest the “disastrous trend”.

With the state administration getting paralysed due to frequent by-elections and crores of rupees of public money (and, of course, of political parties and individuals) “wasted”, a serious debate has started on the need for initiating some “urgent reformative action” and finding a “practical solution for a burning problem”.

The ruling Congress and the principal opposition Telugu Desam have been strongly advocating the need for amending the Representation of the People Act (RPA) to bar legislators from quitting their posts “at the drop of a hat” and – if they resigned mid-term – make them ineligible from contesting the elections for a certain period of time thereupon.

Other important parties like Lok Satta have also raised a similar demand to stop legislators from using resignation as a “personal political weapon”.

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar was, in fact, the first one to suggest that sitting legislators be barred from quitting their posts except in extraordinary circumstances.

“We have adopted the British Parliamentary traditions and practices but have not been following the same in respect of members’ resignation,” Manohar feels.

Now, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu and Lok Satta Party chief N Jayaprakash Narayan have joined chorus, stressing on the need for an urgent amendment to the RPA.

“We will bring changes in the RPA to prevent frequent resignations by sitting MLAs,” the Chief Minister said.

Chandrababu wanted legislators, who quit their posts midway through the five-year term, debarred for ten years from contesting elections afresh.

“We are becoming sick, and also scary, about the by-elections,” Chandrababu observed.

Jayaprakash Narayan, a bureaucrat-turned-MLA, too favoured such a ban saying it would have a “salutary effect”.

“In case a legislator quits his post and wants to contest a by-election immediately, he or his party should be made to bear the entire election expenditure in that constituency. This step too will prevent unnecessary resignations and have a salutary effect,” Narayan said.

In fact, the Election Commission of India forwarded a proposal in this regard to the Government of India long ago but the latter is yet to act on it.

The National Law Commission too came up with a recommendation that a legislator who resigned should not be allowed to contest again till the next general election. The Centre is reportedly sitting on this as well.

In Andhra Pradesh, the trend of resignations was started by the separatist Telangana Rashtra Samiti when its president quit his Lok Sabha seat first in 2006 and again in 2008. In 2008, 16 TRS MLAs resigned from their posts, on the demand for creation of Telangana state, forcing by-elections.

In 2010, ten TRS MLAs quit causing by-polls alleging that the Centre failed to keep its word on the creation of a separate state and repeated the same trick in 2012. This time some turncoats from the TDP also joined the “cause”, leading to yet another round of by-polls. In 2011, one TDP member switched sides to TRS leading to a by-election and in March this year another legislator joined YSR Congress from TDP resulting in a by-election.

In 2011, by-elections were held to Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies following the resignation of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and Y S Vijaya respectively from their posts as well as Congress. In fact, Vijaya was elected to the Assembly in a by-election in December 2009, caused due to the death of her husband and the then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in September 2009.

Two other by-elections were caused due to death of sitting members in 2009 and 2012.

Now, by-elections are being held for one Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats, the highest in one go. Of the 18 Assembly seats, 16 fell vacant due to disqualification of sitting members of the ruling Congress (for voting against the government) while two others resigned. The Nellore Lok Sabha by-poll was also caused due to resignation of sitting member upon jumping over to YSRC from Congress.

In all, the state witnessed an unprecedented 65 by-elections since 2005.

On each Assembly segment, the government is said to be incurring an expenditure of Rs 5 crore for conducting an election while election watchdogs say the contesting candidates and political parties are spending staggering amounts running into hundreds of crores of rupees.

Now, at least the major political parties in Andhra Pradesh want the buck to stop here.