LOKSABHA: BORN THROUGH THE PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO VOTE

The House of People, aka Loksabha is the directly elected lower house of the Parliament. Loksabha is a representative of the people directly chosen through elections based on adult suffrage (right to vote). The Constitution decides the maximum strength of the lower house, which is 552, made up of 530 members who represent the States, up to 20 members for the Union Territories and not more than 2 Anglo-Indian Community members. These 2 are nominated by the President, if he feels that the community is not getting adequate representation in the House. The qualifying age for becoming a member of the Loksabha is 25 years.

The Constitution of India came into force on January 26, 1950. The first general elections under the new Constitution were held during the year 1951-52 and the first elected Loksabha came into being in April 1952. Since then, India has witnessed the formation of 15 Loksabhas; the last election took place in April-May 2009. Each Loksabha functions for a term of maximum 5 years, after which it is dissolved automatically. However, in case of Proclamation of Emergency, the Parliament by law can extend the period by a year.

There is a pre-decided elective membership limit for each state. This limit is distributed among the states in such a way that the ratio between the number of seats allotted to each state and the population of the state is, as far as possible, the same for all states. Gujarat has been allotted 26 seats.

The Constitution insists on the Loksabha to meet at least twice a year, and no more than 6 months can pass between sessions. Generally, 3 sessions of Loksabha take place in a year:

• Budget session: February to May
• Monsoon session: July to September
• Winter session: November to December

Loksabha has the power to elect its Presiding Officer who is called the Speaker. He is responsible for the conduct of business in the Loksabha. The Speaker is assisted by the Deputy Speaker who is also elected by the members of the House.

The first hour of every Loksabha session is called the Question Hour. During this hour, the ministers can pose questions on different aspects of administration and Government policies in the national as well as international spheres. These questions may then be assigned to specific Government Ministries, which have to be answered on a fixed date in the future.

Questions are of three types – Starred, Unstarred and Short Notice.

• A Starred Question is one to which a member desires an oral answer in the House and which is distinguished by an asterisk mark.

• An Unstarred Question is one which is not called for an oral answer in the House and on which no supplementary questions can consequently be asked. An answer to such a question is given in writing. (Minimum period of notice for starred/unstarred questions is 10 clear days)

• Short notice Questions are the ones that relate to the matters of urgent public importance. They are taken up for answer immediately after the Question Hour.

The powers of the Loksabha and the Rajyasabha are almost similar except in the area of Money Bills, in which case the Loksabha has the ultimate authority. Apart from this, the lower house has some special powers (de facto and de jure) which makes it superior to the upper house.

The Loksabha has its own TV channel, Loksabha TV, headquartered within the Parliament premises.

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MODI MAGIC CREATES A HISTORY

“After ten years of hard work, this time the four main constituencies of the state – the minorities, women, tribals and poor, have voted for us in this election,” Narendra Modi was quoted as saying after the landslide victory in the Gujarat Elections 2010. Addressing jubilant BJP supporters who had gathered outside the State party headquarters, Modi said it was a victory of developmental politics and heralds the end of ‘vote bank’ politics pursued by the Congress.

The Modi Government was busy celebrating its urban sweep, when other reasons for celebrations came up. BJP won at all the 6 major municipal corporations viz. Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar. Victory seemed to be in the air as the party also clean swept in the local body elections. The series of BJP’s victories this year began with the party wresting the hitherto Congress stronghold of Kathlal Assembly seat in a by-election.

Overwhelmed with this victory, LK Advani posted his feelings on his blog: “I do not recall the election result of civic bodies in any state causing such a political upheaval as has occurred in Gujarat. The BJP had made a clean sweep in the first round elections to the six Municipal Corporations and won all the six Corporations handsomely. In the second round too, which covered partly urban, but predominantly a rural population, BJP had the upper hand. The BJP had hoped to win these elections. But I must admit that the results have surpassed all our expectations. This time’s outcome is not just a defeat; it is a decimation of the Congress in Gujarat. New Delhi would do well to understand that such results do not indicate just a preference for some party, they are pointers also to the electorate’s passionate rage against some party.”

Amidst tight securities, the vote counting took place for 24 districts, 208 talukas and 53 municipalities of Gujarat. And the results came as an icing on the cake for Narendra Modi, as he had personally led the promotion campaigns of BJP. In the final tally, out of the 24 district panchayats the BJP won clear majority in 21 with Congress got majority in Gandhinagar and Tapi. The district panchayats of Bharuch got a hung verdict.

Out of the 208 taluka panchayats, results of 157 were declared, in which BJP has own 122, Congress 20 and Janta Dal(U) 2, while in the 3 taluka panchayats the verdict was hung.

In the 53 municipalities’ elections, the BJP has won 42 seats while the Congress and others had to be satisfied with four seats respectively. In Porbandar and Botad, both the BJP and Congress won 21 seats each out of the total 42 seats.

As the Congress slipped to perhaps its worst ever showing, state party president Siddhartha Patel sent his resignation to party Chief Sonia Gandhi, accepting moral responsibility for the dismal results. The Gujarat Congress Legislature Party leader Shaktisinh Gohil also sent in his resignation to Gandhi, accepting joint responsibility for the party’s poor performance.

The polls had high stakes for the main parties of the state. The result has come as a major boost to Modi and his party, which is looking at this elections keeping in mind the December 2012 polls. The main twist in the voting pattern was that a large group of tribals and minorities voted for BJP, unlike expectations. BJP won in places such as tribal district Dangs and Anand in central Gujarat, which were Congress strongholds. The party also won in other tribal dominated districts such as Narmada, Dahod, Panchamahal and Sabarkantha.

“This is the first election in which 100 Muslim candidates of the BJP have emerged victorious. This makes it clear that in the country, Muslims and Christians have realized that vote-bank politics have so far not benefited them,” Modi said in his victory speech. He said the image that BJP is pro-rich and an urban party would be dispelled with today’s victory.

This indigestible victory was blamed by Congress as they alleged that the EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) used in Gujarat Elections were tampered with. Adding fuel to the controversy, even the Election Commission stated that the EVMs were not provided by them, but procured by the State itself. ”After being totally wiped out in the civic body elections as well as panchayat polls in Gujarat, the Congress is now trying to put the blame on EVM. Instead of blaming the EVMs the Congress should really find out why the people did not vote for them,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said, justifying the stand of BJP.

Those in the know of politics are wondering at the enormity of the Congress’s loss, considering that these results are worse than even those at the polls that followed the 2002 Hindutva wave. The Saffron Party has emerged a clear winner and most of the ‘Political Pundits’ remain astonished with the drastic change in the voting pattern and preferences of the people. This indeed, can be called a turning point in India’s political history.

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