By William Pais

Mangaluru, Jul 26: Years back, Indian citizens were blissfully unaware of the institution called Election Commission, let alone know what it was supposed to do. With the entry of TN Sheshan, as the Chief Election Commissioner, there was a paradigm shift in the way election commission worked. From a toothless constitutional body for just conducting elections, it was transformed into the powerful institution which changed the way how elections are held, managed and won. Booth capturing and poll rigging hitherto common soon became the thing of past. Transparency in conducting election became the norm. Political power of the time and thereafter tried to fight tooth and nail to contain the functioning of the commission albeit with scanty success. The foundation laid by one single man became the beacon of transparency in how polls are today held in India.

Although, Sheshan is confined indoors to the vagaries of age, India remembers him for how he almost single handedly turned clichéd free and fair elections into an exercise of accountability and transparency and became the ray of hope for the democratic principles in the largest democracy of the world.

I felt the same when K R Ramesh Kumar, the speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly, conducted himself in course of discharging his duties as speaker. He followed nothing but rule of law when political cauldron full of deceit and betrayal was boiling in Karnataka for the twenty days. The elected members enacted every trick devoid of morality to usurp position of power. In doing so everyone forgot rule of law, oath of office. In such a fluid state, there rose the office of speaker in form of Ramesh Kumar who upheld not only the dignity of speaker’s office but became a voice of millions of voters who trusted legislators for a term of five years, but chose to switch sides for inducement, power and position. “In this game of filth, Ramesh Kumar’s decision to disqualify three MLA’s who beyond doubt brought a disgrace to the voters’ mandate, came as a tad bold and brilliant. If MLAs change their mind according to their whims and fancies, should the voter who has elected them not have a say? I am setting a precedent here,” he said in justifying his bold move.

The voter or the one who did not vote felt betrayed and gullible. ‘Where are we?’ many seem to have asked, but with their responsibility over with voting they had no voice, as they could not even enter highly secured boundaries of the Vidhana Soudha, let alone go and speak there. The laws guarding the defection were always there but their enforcement was too lackadaisical. The fear of law and near total immunity of the law makers to the law made it hardly deterrent. Ramesh Kumar has in a right move upheld the rule of law in suspending three MLAs who threw tantrums against fulfilling the objectives and democracy and constitutional principles. “I will not depart form the rule of law, I will abide by the constitution, I am only answerable to the constitution,” were his often repeated sentences in the political melee. When the political parties and the legislators were fighting to lower the standards of polity to third grade, speaker Ramesh Kumar burnt the midnight oil silently to put public discourse on path of morality and probity.

He mentioned a letter from a voter from Chikkodi from where Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav resigned from his MLA seat to contest Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket. The voter felt betrayed by the MLA, for he was elected for a term of five years, resigned within a year thus totally undermining role of the voter. The voters’ letter to the speaker even compared the scenario to a marriage, where, after marriage and bearing children, the man deserts his wife and goes away without any responsibility. The voters of all those constituencies where the MLAs resigned felt betrayed and orphaned, for their will never prevailed.

Speaker Ramesh Kumar redefining his position lent voice to their woes and balmed the bruised voter. The people Karnataka will remember the speaker as a man who upheld the values enshrined in the constitution in the years to come. The people who occupy the position of power should understand the purpose for which power is endowed on them and Ramesh Kumar used the whip of his power and dignity of his office to advance democratic values to a greater height. His entire conduct raises the bar at a time when Indian democracy wails in a pond filled with dirt of power hungry politicians who never miss a chance to try every dirty trick in Lucifer’s book of wisdom. Ramesh Kumar became emotional at times looking at the abysmal level of debate and said, “I ashamed to adorn this chair, that was once decorated by stalwarts public morality and witness all this.”

For all that was done and not done, for raising the bar of political discourse, for reminding the legislators of their primary responsibility, for giving a slap on the face of power gluttony, Speaker Ramesh Kumar needs to be saluted for boldly speaking. Any Speaker who will decorate the chair of speaker in any Assembly will no doubt revert back to the example of Ramesh Kumar in conducting the business of the house.