Democracy hijacked

 What happened in Manipur after the BJP-led coalition government under chief minister Biren Singh which was reduced to minority after nine legislators withdrew support on June 17 but was able to win the Rajya Sabha election just two days later on June 19, is a classic case of the worst kind of unethical politics which has made a mockery of the principles of democracy. The strength of the Manipur assembly was technically reduced to 49 with the newly formed Secular Progressive Front(SPF) led by the Congress having 26 ( Cong-20;NPP-4;TMC-1 and Independent-1) while the BJP coalition had 23(BJP-18,NPF-4 and LJP-1). This was when seven Congress MLAs were under the disqualification proceedings and three BJP legislators had resigned after quitting the government and party. Earlier one Congress defector who was made minister had been disqualified by the Supreme Court. The seven Congress MLAs had reportedly rejoined their party prior to the Rajya Sabha election but their votes were not considered since their fates hanged under the guillotine of disqualification for which the high court debarred their entry into the assembly premises and the Manipur speaker directed to conclude disqualification proceedings against them before June 22. That reduced the effective strength of the house to 49. However, to get around the high court stricture, the speaker took up the issue of the seven rebel Congress MLAs who were not supposed to be allowed inside till their cases were decided. Informed sources had disclosed that the Speaker was upto something on the eve of the vote which meant that he was taking up the issue of the seven MLAs on June 18 evening but again the high court restrained him from pronouncing his verdict till June 19. That meant that the house strength rose to 57 on June 18 evening. The speaker then pronounced his ruling on June 19 on the day of the voting when four MLAs would have voted against the government were disqualified but three who were going to vote for the government were left untouched. For good effect, the speaker also debarred the lone TMC legislator from voting. That was how the BJP managed to “steal victory” in a most unethical and highly controversial manner. The Congress-led SPF also have themselves to blame for not being able to think out of the box in considering various possibilities that the Biren Singh camp would attempt in a desperate bid to remain in power. Now that the Biren Singh coalition has won the Rajya Sabha election, they are not wrong in concluding that there is no need for the government to face a trust vote any longer. In that way, perhaps even the governor would not go beyond the realm in trying to rock the boat. It is thus, most likely that the governor would refuse to convene the assembly for the trust vote. The newly formed SPF will have to knock on the door of the courts for justice but that is going to be a very long process and by which time, much water would have flown with possibility of the NPP legislators returning back to the coalition fold and even some Congress MLAs being poached. The BJP has more than exhibited this while grabbing power was done in Manipur (in 2017), Karnataka, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh or Uttarakhand. The anti-defection law has thus become a mere piece of legislation which can be interpreted at the whims of speakers.