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        The Election Commission has to be thanked profusely for saving India's democratic decencies from being rubbished by the familiar proclivity of the Congress for pulling the rug from under the feet of a ruling regime. It is not for a moment contended that the Mulayam Singh regime is angelic. For that matter, most political parties are after survival more by crook than by hook. In this particular case, the enormity of the desire of the Congress to topple the Mulayam regime is a measure of the illicit aspiration of the Mahatma's party which, despite its clearly insignificant presence in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, had been keen to oust Mulayam from office despite his apparent majority status even with the disqualification suffered by 14 of his supporters practically by the Supreme Court's verdict and notionally by another 27 MLAs.

        Like the proverbial schoolmaster arguing still after being vanquished, the mouthpieces of the Congress are expatiating upon their stance that, even with the Election Commission's announcement of the poll dates for the UP Assembly, Article 356 could be invoked to dismiss the Mulayam regime.

        What the Congress deliberately overlooks are two relevant details. One, the Election Commission has saved embarrassment for the President because he would not like to be confronted by a repeat of ignominy invited on him by the Congress through a stricture of the Supreme Court over the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly.

        Two, the EC decision has helped contain whatever dissonance could have been caused by the difference in stance between the Left and the Congress over its suggestion of invoking Article 356 against Mulayam. Such dissonance would have hurt the Congress's secular credentials. Of course, like the Congress, many would like Mulayam to be out for his tactics of survival but that ire would not warrant Constitutionally untenable actions.

        According to his critics mostly from the Congress, Mulayam is alleged to have placed his men in every administrative nook and corner to preserve his clout but, with the announcement of the code of conduct which takes effect immediately, the Governor, the Congress, the BJP and the BSP along with the Left could be expected to invoke the Election Commission's intervention when poll malpractices surface. That could restrain the Congress from conspiring for the imposition of President's rule in UP. Answering a question as to whether imposition of President's rule would conflict with the code of conduct, the Commission rightly said that it would have no answer for hypothetical questions and would deal appropriately with the conflict if at all it arises.

        Reforming UP calls for breaking the State into three more manageable political territories. At present, it is a behemoth with a population of 170 million. As said by a knowledgeable critic, there is no administrative rationale, no economic justification, no compelling political logic and not even any cultural or linguistic framework for holding the State together.

        A smaller State would have greater homogeneity among its people. One suggestion is that UP can be trifurcated into Harit Pradesh, Purvanchal and Bundelkhand provided the issue is not used to extract political capital by self-serving politicians.