The ensuing festival season includes a democratic event too. By-polls to five TN Assembly constituencies, warranted by the change in status of its MLAs, are slated for 18 Aug. These political fests usually have all the trappings of a regular religious celebration: The presiding deities of political outfits offering full darshans, four-wheeled petrol chariots lining the veedhis, festoons, flags and matching karai veshtis dotting the landscape, the political platforms abuzz with performers displaying their political ‘culture’, choice archanas — eulogies of their own leaders and epithets for the opponent one — in full flow, blaring megaphones inundating your eardrums, the faithful turning up in good numbers to collect their prasad in crisp notes and then the crucial presence at the electoral altar, namely the booth, to carry out the ‘committed’ karma of actually voting; only that the telltale mark, black mark actually, is on the forefinger and not forehead. That last act of political piety can be outsourced too after 2 p.m. as the identities of individual jivatmas merge with the mighty machinery of the ruling paramatmas. And finally, saranagathi: Press, and then it is bliss for, only God knows what happens inside those EVMs!
Thirumangalm, the auspicious town which hosted a most inauspicious democratic Thiruvizha earlier this year was a watershed ritual. And then came the LS festivities. By those standards, the coming ones, however, will likely be low key affairs, shorn of the familiar fervour. The prime reason is that the main opposition party, AIADMK, has decided to boycott the elections. The mother of all battles at Madurai appears to have convinced Amma that since the DMK would win the elections by hook and crook and not certainly by the book, there is no point in being in the fray! The wisdom of her decision needs to be debated at length, but we will come to that later.
The rationale for these by-polls itself is questionable. While there is nothing unconstitutional about their imminence they could have been avoided too. Of the five by-elections, only one, Srivaikuntam, is due to the death of an MLA, the usual reason for a by-poll. The other four by-polls are because of the conduct of the sitting MLAs. Raja Kannappan of Illayangudi who had won the seat on DMK symbol switched to AIADMK to contest the recent LS poll from Sivaganga and therefore resigned. Thambidurai, AIADMK MLA from Bargur, got elected to the LS and so quit the Assembly. Kannappan and Ramakrishnan, elected on MDMK tickets from Thondamuttur and Cumbum respectively crossed over to the DMK and so resigned their MLA posts on ‘moral’ grounds! They risked disqualification under the Anti-Defection Law in any case. So, barring the one who had a date with his maker, clearly, some footloose members have let loose a wholly unnecessary exercise on the nation. Indeed, the much debated amendments to the electoral laws on the conduct of by-polls need to be revisited, if only to insulate the exchequer from the excesses of the political class.
But shirking away from by-polls, be they futile or farcical, is a different issue altogether. While there might be many instances at the national level of major political parties skipping a poll, J’s decision is not unprecedented vis-a-vis TN. In 1980-81, the Cong MLA from Thiruppattur who won on the Cong-DMK alliance, died. In the by-poll that followed, MGR refused to put up a candidate on the grounds that since the Cong had won the seat, it had a rightful claim to hold on to it. Of course, many dubbed it as a ploy by him to wean the Cong from the DMK alliance, which actually happened soon enough. But MGR got away with his ‘democratic decency and magnanimity’. Again, in 2003, when the Sathankulam by-poll came up, the DMK which was in the NDA camp then, did not put up a candidate against the incumbent Cong. K even called it a boycott. But clearly, it was a prelude to the DMK’s subsequent exit from NDA and entry into UPA! K & Sons are reaping the benefits till date!
No such considerations weigh on J today. Whatever her stated alibi, it is not proper for her party to scoot the poll scene. First, while fielding Kannappan and Thambidurai for LS, the AIADMK not only knew that there would be by- polls for their Assembly seats and but also believed the DMK would rig them. Again, two other by-polls were owing to her ally MDMK being unable to hold its own. Indeed, the AIADMK front is directly or indirectly responsible for the by-polls that they want no part of now! But most important, three of the five seats were held by the AIADMK and its allies; is it politically prudent to cede those seats without a fight? Would it not be a betrayal of its own loyal voters? For that matter, can a major political party shun polls and thus forfeit a place in a key arena of political action, whatever the excuse? Particularly when even fledgling or letter-head parties and independents who have no hope of salvaging their deposits keep contesting? And the loss is the AIADMK’s also because ‘others’ will fill the vacuum. But the mockery of democracy is magnified by the silence of the grave at the pollscape: With a smug K vacationing at Bangalore and a sulking J refusing to stir out of Kodanadu, and just 10 days to go, one million voters seem to have been abandoned as irrelevent!
That said, none can deny the point sought to be made. The DMK through its shady shenanigans at every rung of the democratic ladder, from LS, Assembly to local polls, has completely vitiated the virtues of a vote. Indeed, given the ruling party’s money, muscle and media power, it looks the sun may never set on K’s empire. The occasional eclipse too looks a far cry, thanks to such self-defeating boycotts. And there is another spin-off: No fight means less festivities and so lesser fund outflow. Aah, how fortune favours the foul!
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