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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, NOV 18: Performance of MPs inside Parliament has come under sharp attack from no less a person than Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill, who says that "in each session, a major share of parliamentary time is wasted in futile political theatre". Not stopping at this, Gill even commented on their conduct inside Parliament. "Often bills are passed by voice vote on the last day, with little or no discussion. The result is that badly-drafted laws go through without debate and amendment," he said delivering the convocation address at Madras University on Thursday.
With the Winter Session of Parliament starting on Monday, Gill’s comments might trigger off a fresh controversy. "Who is he to cast aspersions on our conduct? He is heaping insult on us," said a BJP MP on Saturday.
Such chaotic scenes are not seen in elected Houses of other countries, Gill claimed citing examples of Westminster, Washington and Canada. No member disrupts proceedings there and no speaker allows such conduct. The result is a calm, considered debate leading to good policy and law making, he said.
Gill, however, did not blame MPs for such chaos. He held the process of electing the Lok Sabha Speaker responsible for most ills plaguing Parliament. He said the Speaker should be chosen by consensus instead of being elected by the majority.
In case a consensus is not reached, then the speaker should be elected with support of at least 75 per cent of elected MPs and he should have a fixed tenure of 10 years after which he should retire from political life, Gill argued.
Gill did not say in so many words but his description of the speaker’s job indicated that the pressures under which a speaker functions has a telling impact on his working. "At each election, the Speaker has to find a seat, a ticket and go through a contentious election campaign, facing full Opposition. Even if he is re-elected to Parliament, his re-appointment as Speaker is not assured. This is bound to lead to the present scenario unsatisfactory from points of view of all involved, MPs, Speaker and voters," Gill said.
He credited Nehru with having tried in vain to establish the British system of electing a Speaker. The English Speaker is truly like a judge, with unlimited secure tenure and full support of the entire House. He is naturally in a position to command respect and obedience, which explains the productive working of House of Commons.
Gill claimed proceedings of Assemblies and the Parliament 40-50 years ago, were much better than it was today. There used to be long budget sessions stretching to several months with grants to each department being debated in detail. "Today almost all state Assemblies have sessions for a few days only, to fulfil technical and legal requirements of the Constitution," he said.
The CEC said that days when parties used to enjoy monopoly of power, were over and that of collective federal governance had arrived. Power is shared and invariably changes hands, it should be obvious to all therefore, that regulations and reforms can only be made with broad agreement between Government and the Opposition, he said.
