Editorial
Maharashtra and Haryana go to polls in historic elections Wednesday. But the recent ADR report is an eye-opener about the state of politics in both the states that despite stringent rules on criminalization of politics criminals and moneybags have been able to sneak into the political process through the political parties.
In Haryana despite the state plunging low into indicators of development the personal fortune of candidates across the political spectrum has risen with more and more crorepatis in the electoral fray.
The Maharashtra Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (MEW-ADR) had analysed affidavits of 2,336 nominees – 1,318 of them from the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. The findings are alarming as out of these at least 34 per cent have criminal charges against them, including that of communal violence and at least 43 per cent have charges framed against them in courts of law.
The MEW-ADR report has been extremely critical about Shiv Sena whose 61 per cent of candidates boast of criminal records against them. The Shiv Sena is an organization which has in the past indulged in attacks on the media, violence against Muslims during post-Babri demolition riots and even intimidation of political rivals. But the support system of the party is so entrenched in Maharashtra’s political institutions that much action could not be taken against them.
On the other hand in Haryana, leading politicians across the spectrum have seen a massive jump in their financial and material worth in the last five years. As per ADR findings, compared to 2009 state assembly elections when 32 per cent candidates were crorepatis, the figure has now jumped to 52 per cent. There are at least 563 crorepati candidates this election while in 2009 the figure was 380.
Haryana has been the state which has witnessed one of the numerous cases of land scams and corruption. Most of the candidates that are in the fray in Haryana are cash rich emerging political class who has become rich by involving in land transactions. While on the other side of the line, many farmers whose lands have been acquired have not been paid any money. The state of political culture in Haryana is such that Om Prakash Chautala who was out on bail on medical ground indulged in campaigning, while the authorities kept mum. The Delhi High Court Friday was forced to ban Chautala from any kind of campaigning and gave him 24 hours to surrender.
In a stern remark the court said: “There is a Rubicon that must not be crossed…am pained and disappointed at his conduct. Dignity and decorum of courts has to be maintained. We can’t turn bail on medical grounds into a carnival. Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.”
So, if a former chief minister of state is so much capable of challenging the law himself and even ending up challenging the judicial authority, the level of political culture and sorry state of affairs could be gauged.
This is extremely sensitive matter towards which the Election Commission of India should take note of and as they have been able to virtually debunk the stringent norms, now it is the duty of the poll watchdog to take extra steps and keep a vigil on them on the election day, so that they are not able to indulge in any electoral malpractices.
