News Highlight
Congress MP Manish Tewari has introduced a private member’s Bill in Lok Sabha seeking the Election Commission (EC) to be made responsible for regulating and monitoring the internal polls of political parties in the country.
Key Takeaway:
- Calling the internal functioning of most political parties “opaque and ossified”, the Bill seeks to provide the EC with the necessary wherewithal to regulate the internal functioning of all political parties registered with it and
- To withdraw their recognition as national or State parties if they fail to comply with the directions of the Commission with regard to their internal functioning.
Internal polls in parties:
- Need of Internal polls:
- The EC had in 1996 issued a letter to all recognised national and state political parties as well as registered unrecognised parties stating that various provisions relating to the organisational elections were not being followed by them and called upon them to follow their respective constitutions relating to said elections scrupulously.
- Despite this there was a lack of regulatory oversight by the EC of the internal elections in political parties.
- Present challenges and Concerns:
- Internal elections of most parties “are often an eyewash for established political families within the said parties to continue to retain power as the top leadership of said party”.
- Lack of transparency and internal democracy in political parties are often reflected in similar non-democratic governance models when said political parties come to power.
- institutional intermediaries in a representative democracy must themselves be democratic. However, beyond the rhetoric, internal democracy in a political party is less straightforward.
- Sidelining of the political process has been made possible on account of the lack of regulatory oversight and uniform norms of internal democracy applied to political parties.
Difference Between Democracy in a Country and in a Political Party:
- Democratic accountability:
- Democratic accountability in a political party is qualitatively different from that in a country.
- While democracy at the level of the country is a bottom-up opportunity to change direction altogether, democratic accountability in a political party exists within an ideological framework.
- Purpose:
- The purpose of a political party is the acquisition of state power. Democratic functioning may be an ideological imperative, operational choice, or legitimising tactic but it is not an end in itself for a political party.
Way to Decentralize Power:
- Instead of looking at internal party processes, one way to decentralise power is by getting rid of the anti-defection law.
- The need to canvass votes in the legislature will create room for negotiation in the party organisation too.
- Moreover, the electoral process will be independent of the party machinery and internal coalitions will evolve in a more measured manner than in one-time organisational elections.
- Most importantly, this reform will impose a similar burden on all political parties and may create space to change the overall political culture.
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Content Source: The Hindu