Latest of the developments that point to politics in Tamil Nadu turning into a conundrum is the Madras High Court restraining the Election Commission of India from notifying by-elections to five Assembly seats that are lying vacant after those elected from those constituencies in the general elections held on April 23 resigned their posts. Ever since the results for the general elections were announced on May 4, the political narrative has been intriguing as it witnessed incredible defections. Of course these are times when defections define politics in different States across the country. The prevailing reality is that when a party or one leader gets elected and forms or is all set to form a government, a group of persons who fought the election together with him or her switches loyalty and the leader or the party that we thought has bitten the dust assumes power.
Those who once thought that Tamil Nadu always bucked the national trend and stood out upholding certain values and principles in politics are now rethinking. The State is just part of India, where politicians think in a certain way and act accordingly, much to the bewilderment of the common man. So, when four newly elected MLAs of the AIADMK – Maragatham Kumaravel from Madurantakam, S Jayakumar from Perundurai, P Sathyabama from Dharapuram and Esakki Subiah from Ambasamudram – suddenly resigned their seats and also the party membership, it sent shockwaves across the political spectrum. It emerged that the MLAs had decided to contest the by-election that would come about to fill the vacancies caused by their resignations. It was something new for the State though it had happened elsewhere earlier.
Soon more resignations came in from former AIADMK Ministers who had won the elections and had been sworn in as MLAs. – C Vijayabaskar from Viralimalai and M R Vijayabhaskar from Karur. It is a different matter that both the former Ministers had been in the news for the raids conducted in their premises and for the graft charges against them. But now they want to leave their party and want to become MLAs of the ruling party, against which they had campaigned not too long ago. The TVK, too, was prepared to take them in, the fact that they have a tainted past notwithstanding. So everyone thought that by-elections will be held in the six constituencies vacated by the AIADMK to convert them into TVK seats and also in Trichy East that was given up by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay after he won from two seats.
But suddenly the Madras High Court said ‘no,’ throwing cold water on the plans of the parties and leaders and also turning the by-election drama into a puzzle. Perhaps, by-elections will now be held at Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies if one were to go by the High Court verdict that only halted the by-elections in five constituencies. What then was the reason for the First Bench of the Madras High Court not allowing the by-elections to be held for five seats? Well, that itself is more intriguing than the possible reason for the creation of the strange situation by the former AIADMK MLAs and Vijay. While Vijay had to give up the Trichy East seat since he decided to keep the other Perumbur constituency, the others resigned only to earn the distinction of being a ruling party MLA and become a Minister if only fate and Vijay favoured them. It is that particular craze to become a ruling party member by taking a big calculated risk of losing the MLA seat itself is unfathomable.
Or is there something more to it than it meets the eye. To put it differently, is there any other benefit, not revealed to the common man and the voters, other than donning the TVK colours and possibly sitting in the treasury benches for all those MLAs wishing to flock to the other side of the fence when they know that they will have to face the elections again and convince the people to agree with their personal aspirations. It is indeed intriguing that the people who voted for those ambitious MLAs chose them for their individual charisma or strength or capabilities or whatever that people look for in their leaders and not their party affiliation or ideology. Do those MLAs believe that no one bothers about ideology anymore and just voted with a herd mentality? Whatever it is, it does not augur well for the future of the State if voters of a constituency pick in the by-election the same candidate who had betrayed them by rejecting the mandate. Perhaps they consider themselves to be more important to the people than their party affiliations and ideology. That confidence of the MLAs itself is intriguing.
What is most intriguing is the court telling the Election Commission not to let the people elect their representative to the Legislative Assembly without being averse to the idea of keeping the seat vacant for more than the stipulated 6 month time. While the elected MLAs have quit and gone, the courts fear that if the election petitions by rival candidates were found to have merit, they could be declared as winners in the respective constituencies. So to avoid such a situation they keep by-elections at bay. The message is that if a MLA wants to quit he cannot if his rival has objected to his winning. Intriguing indeed.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
