Elections and governance

The green signal from the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India for presentation of the Budget according to schedule on February 1 is welcome and removes the uncertainty that prevailed ever since elections to five States were announced. Dismissing a petition seeking postponement of the Budget, the apex court observed on Monday that there is nothing concrete to back the notion that presentation of the Budget just ahead of polls to five State assemblies can sway the minds of the electorate. The EC’s decision came with some riders — no State-specific schemes should be announced that might influence the electorate, and the speech should not contain any reference to the achievements of the Government in the five States.

It is just as well that the two entities have examined the issue and come up with similar decisions though one could argue that the EC appears more of the view, compared to the apex court, that the electorate can indeed be swayed by the Budget proposals. The election watchdog’s reference to its own advisory to States in March 2009 is interesting. In that letter, the EC has advised State legislatures to take a vote-on-account but such advice was not binding. The reference to this advisory in its letter to the Centre now suggests that the EC thinks a vote-on-account is the ideal option now; the nuanced decision to allow a Budget without any State-specific proposals is only to ensure that governance goes on.

There is an opinion that the Centre should have kept in mind the State elections cycle when it decided to advance the Budget date. Those subscribing to this view feel that a consultation with or prior intimation to the EC may have been in order, but it is difficult to imagine what solution it would have brought forth. If advancing the Budget was an important reform from the economy’s standpoint, the timing of elections was dictated by the constitutional need to have the new assemblies in place by the time the terms of the existing ones ended. The point to note is that in a country perpetually in election mode with one election or the other in some part, governance cannot be held captive to the electoral process. From that standpoint, the EC’s decision to allow the Budget with restrictions is probably welcome but it may fail the test of practicality. The finance minister cannot be prevented from increasing allocations to welfare schemes that apply across the country, including the poll-bound States. If, for instance, Arun Jaitley decides to increase allocations to the rural jobs scheme (MGNREGS), which he well might, will he exempt Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and the other poll-bound States specifically from the increase? The only solution to this clash of governance and elections is to have a uniform election cycle to Parliament and State assemblies. The Prime Minister has mooted the idea and the EC has indicated that it is not averse to it but are our political parties ready?

COMMENT NOW