Disenfranchising Citizens Is Intrinsically Arbitrary
Violates Constitutional Soul: SC Judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan
One day before the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear two petitions on Election Commission and SIR, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said on Sunday that any process that leads to wholesale disenfranchisement of Indian citizens, making them citizens without voting rights, would be violative of constitution. No amount of whataboutery can justify it, he said. Justice Bhuyan said detaching the Indian citizen from the right to vote would be akin to “taking out the soul from the body.”
What Parakala Prabhakar, the noted economist and political analyst, has been saying for months, at a series of meetings he addressed from Kashmir to Kochin, was stated by the senior judge of the apex court now. “If any process results in disenfranchising millions and millions of Indian citizens, making them second-class citizens in their own country, in the sense of being citizens without voting rights, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary. It strikes at the heart of the Constitution and I would go to the extent of saying that it is a negation of the constitutional order which we have adopted under the Constitution of India,” Justice Bhuyan observed. He was speaking at the valedictory ceremony of Justice Bodh Raj Sawhney Memorial Moot Court competition at NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad.
Voting Right Is Inseparable from Indian Citizenship
Constitutional Mandate of Articles 325 and 326
“From the person of Indian citizen, the right to vote and the right to be included in voters’ list cannot be detached.” In the draft constitution, which was debated by the Constituent Assembly, there were two articles of relevance, though included subsequently. These were Articles 289 A and 289 B. Draft article 289 A became Article325 and draft Article 289 B became Article 326 of the Constitution of India. Article 326 gives meaning and content to the equality principle enshrined in Article 14. Article 325 of the Constitution of India declares that there shall be one general electoral roll for every territorial constituency for election to the Lok Sabha or to the Legislature of a State. No person shall be ineligible in any such roll or claim to be included in any electoral roll for any such constituency on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or any of them.
Justifying universal adult franchise, Dr. Ambedkar said since we have taken a very important decision, which practically nullifies the past, it is better that the Constitution should, in express terms, state it is the basis for insertion of Article 325 and 326. “Dr Ambedkar’s closing speech warned that the right to vote and the Indian citizen’s entitlement to adult franchise should be written into the Constitution of India, instead of being left to the whims of parliamentary legislation,” Justice Bhuyan reminded.
SC Issues Notice to ECI & Union Gov over Unilateral Decision
Making Allegations Against CEC Gyanesh Kumar
This Hyderabad speech appears to have impacted the Supreme Court on Monday when it took up the petitions against the ECE and ECI. The apex court has made it clear it can pass an order based on a newspaper (The Indian Express) report. The court has asked the Election Commission of India to respond. A bench headed by CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana sought ECI response to the allegations that CEI took decisions unilaterally in the poll body, without consensus from the two other Election Commissioners. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by Patna resident Rakesh Kumar Singh. The ECI in its media release in the wake of the investigative report published by The Indian Express claimed that Supreme Court had upheld the SIR and the functioning of the Commission. The SC has also found fault with Form 6. However, the SC refused to give interim orders suspending Gyanesh Kumar. Given the background, it is difficult to say what would be the final stand of the SC on CEC.
Regional Feuds & National Silence
The Muted Voice of Telugu Political Leadership
While the Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar undertook dharna and made allegations against the SIR procedure, his Telangana counterpart Revanth Reddy is busy making allegations against former chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao and his family. BRS supremo KCR has not been talking about politics. He appears to be biding his time to have a tie-up with the BJP in 2028 Assembly elections. In Andhra Pradesh, TDP chief and Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu is going down in history by supporting the NDA government at a time when he is expected to criticize it. He is one of the two key supporters to Modi government. JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar of Bihar is another. Nitish got politically diluted when he resigned as chief minister of Bihar and went on to become a Rajya Sabha member.
Naidu is heading a party that made history during NTR period by playing a stellar role in national politics. Naidu has a reputation of being the senior politician among the chief ministers. But he is taking on Jairam Ramesh instead of asking Modi to jettison Gyanesh Kumar, the CEC. Less talked about the opposition leader and YSCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy the better. Telugu people appear to be cursed to have leaders who have no voice in national affairs.
From Resistance to Realpolitik
CJP Movement Challenges Govt, Navigates Opposition Divide
The Modi government seems to be bent upon using strong arm methods against the Cockroaches Janata Party (CJP). Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to win over the CJP leaders in the beginning. The CJP founder-leader Abhijeet Dipke was given permission to hold meeting at Jantar Mantar within hours of reaching Delhi from the US. Dharmendra Pradhan was asked to resign. But the young leaders are made of sterner stuff and the PM and the Home Minister Amit Shah have realized that they cannot be won over. The government is now bent upon suppressing the movement against Gyanesh Kumar. The Gen Z movement is spread over months. The CJP announced that it will organize marches in big cities and a big show in Delhi on November 1.
The country is waiting to see what kind of relationship would emerge between the CJP and the opposition parties. The AAP and the DMK are opposing both the BJP and the Congress. Odisha’s Patnaik stance is independent and confined to State politics. Vijay’s TVK has joined the INDIA block. Stalin and Vijay are slugging it out in the two byelections polling for which is scheduled on the 6th. The Congress and Sharad Pawar’s faction of the NCP have joined the protest march organized by Thakre brothers (of Shiv Sena) in Mumbai on Sunday. Mamata, Akhilesh, Tejaswi, Kashmiri leaders are all united. Rahul Gandhi has been actively working against the Centre but he is not acceptable to some of the opposition parties as the prime minister material. One has to see if the movement against the ECI, CEC will gather momentum in due course or fizzle out and what would Modi-Amit Shah would do.
Prominent Journalist
Dr. K. Ramachandra Murthy is a versatile journalist with a distinguished career. Dr. Murthy began his extensive career with Andhra Prabha of The Indian Express group in Bengaluru. He was editor of Udayam, Vaartha and Andhra Jyothy. Dr. Murthy founded and edited HMTV news channel and The Hans India, an English newspaper. He was also editorial director of the Telugu newspaper, Saakshi. He was awarded Ph. D for his research work in rural reporting. Dr. Murthy’s five decades in journalism showcases his influential roles across both print and electronic media. He wrote the political biography of NTR published by Harper Collins.
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