Narendra Modi's Double Game: How Modi is undermining electoral accountability

by Guest Wed Apr 02, 2014 9:27 am

There is something absurd about a candidate contesting an election under the promise that they will faithfully serve the interests of that constituency and represent its people, but with the proviso that they might decide to abandon it if they also win in another constituency. Yet this is the case where big-shot leaders decide that one constituency is not enough, and they will fight the election from two places simultaneously.

That is the strategy that Narendra Modi has adopted for the 2014 elections, contesting from both Vadodara in Gujarat and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress can hardly object, since Sonia Gandhi also divided her attention between Amethi in UP and Bellary in Karnataka in the 1999 general elections. Despite defeating Sushma Swaraj in Bellary, Sonia Gandhi retained Amethi and had to resign from her other seat, leaving Bellary unrepresented in the Lok Sabha until a by-election was held in the subsequent year....

There is a clear strategic rationale to this double contestation, but it also reveals a lack of confidence about the electoral strength of a party. One seat acts as a means of reaching out to a symbolic or critical battleground, the other constituency as a fall-back option to ensure the leader is in the Lok Sabha if the voters in the first seat reject them. Amethi was a constituency which had resonance for the Gandhi dynasty, having been won by Rajiv Gandhi, and before him, Sanjay Gandhi. Varanasi has obvious resonance for the BJP as a holy city. In both cases, contesting from constituencies in UP reflects the importance of standing in a state likely to be critical to the outcome of the national polls.

It is for the electorates in Vadodara and Varanasi to judge whether Modi’s dual candidacy is an issue in the 2014 general election. Under the existing law, he has every right to stand in both constituencies. Yet this provision clearly challenges principles of electoral representation and accountability. For a candidate that wins both seats, there is the inconvenience of a by-election. For a candidate that wins one seat and loses another, there is the uncomfortable scenario whereby a defeated politician gets to sit in the Lok Sabha via the back door. The EC is right to consider that this is a practice that has no place in a modern democracy.

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/double-game/99/