For many months now , NDA government had
been discussing advancing of Union Budget to 01 Feb of each year
PM Shri Modi even told Chief Secretaries
of the States re this in September 2016
Then finally confirmed it on 31st Dec
To be followed by Election Commission's
announcement of holding polls in 5 states , starting with Goa on 04 Feb
Now 16 political parties ( opposition )
has asked EC to tell the government , not to offer any sops ( even to the
poorest ? ) , in forthcoming budget
Or , postpone the budget after the polls
are over in March 2017
Why ?
Opposition argues :
Model Code of Conduct ( which kicked in from 01 Feb ) , prohibits
political parties to " bribe the voters " with goodies / freebies etc
( ostensibly to win votes )
I call this , a case of " Selective Amnesia " meaning ,
A case of conveniently forgetting following background :
[ A ]
On 22 Feb 2014 ,
following Supreme Court directives , the Election Commission , revised , " Model Code of Conduct " , containing
guidelines on what kind of poll promises ,
political parties can incorporate in their poll
manifestos
GUIDELINES
* Parties shall make only those promises which
are possible to be fulfilled
* It is expected that manifestos also reflect
the rationale for the promises
and broadly indicate the ways and means
to meet the financial requirements for it
* Party in power shall stop advertizing for
publicity of achievements
[ B ]
In its manifesto released on 24 March 2014 , Congress has
promised to create 10 Crore ( = 100 million ) new jobs in next 5 years , if
voted to power
No explanation / clarification in Congress Manifesto as to
how they plan to find Rs 10 crore*crore , to create these jobs !
[ C ]
During past few weeks ,
* Akhilesh Yadav has
promised to give away ( of course, FREE ) , Smart phones to all young people of
UP.( How can he forget 10 lakh FREE laptops that brought him to power ! )
* Captain Amrinder Singh
has promised , not only Smart phones but also JOBS to 91
lakh young people of Punjab
Now , you may say :
Hey ! These promises were " OUTSIDE " of Manifesto and made BEFORE
the Code of Conduct kicked in ! So that don't count !
[ D ]
And if you ponder the following scenario, then it would appear
that we would have Model Code of Conduct operating in some or other part of our
country , ALL ROUND THE YEAR !
> Out of 545
MPs , some 163 ( 30 % ) are facing criminal cases
I go on to assume that
,
> Out of a
total of 4131 MLAs , a similar 30 % are facing criminal cases
That is , some 1,239
MLAs
A grand total of 163 +
1239 = 1,402 " tainted " legislators
!
Now , let us further
assume that , only 30 % of this 30 % , are facing " Serious "
criminal charges , where , if convicted , they will get a prison term of 5
years or more
{ Supreme Court had requested the incoming
government in 2014, to set up special court to dispose off, all these cases
within ONE YEAR ! }
That is 1402 * 30 % =
420 ( believe me , a sheer coincidence ! )
Once convicted , they
will be disqualified as MP / MLA , creating that many vacancies
All of this (
simplistic ) arithmetic translates into following election scenario :
QUALIFYING
ELECTIONS ( ONCE IN 5 YEARS )
* 545 MPs
* 4131 MLAs
REPLACEMENT
ELECTIONS ( THROUGHOUT 5 YEARS )
* 48 MPs ( Serious Crimes - 30% of 163 )
* 372 MLAs ( Serious Crimes - 30 % of 1239 )
We will get to exercise our birth-right ( to Vote ) , EVERYDAY ! Long live VOTE-CRACY !
Under such a scenario, the Central Government dare not present
any benefits for the poor , in ANY YEAR's Budget, for fear of violating Model Code of
Conduct !
[ E ]
Now one
more example of whatever is " MODEL ",
in the CONDUCT of our Political Parties
( apart
from anonymous CASH donations and failing to submit statement of income and
expenditure to Election Commission ) :
* Despite CIC ( Central Information Commission
) holding that
* Political parties fulfill the criteria of
being " PUBLIC AUTHORITIES ", and
* Answerable
to the public under the RTI ( Right to
Information Act ) ,
* Must
designate CPIOs / Appellate Authorities at their headquarters in six weeks,
In Sept 2015 ,
The NDA government has filed an affidavit
before the Supreme Court (SC) backing immunity for
political parties from making disclosures under the RTI Act.
With the government in solidarity with
political parties resisting RTI at the cost of losing the trust of people, it
may find it difficult to defend its stand in court but also to justify it.
Not to be
left behind , in June 2016 , Congress told CIC ,
" To set aside its 2013 full
bench order, saying it is neither a court nor a competent authority to
exercise plenary jurisdiction and the order is “arbitrary and illegal.”
[ F ]
Election Commission has asked NDA government to state its
position , before 10th Feb , on the objections raised by the Opposition Parties
I presume
, Shri Arun Jaiteleyji will reply as
follows :
Dear Sir
:
I promise that in my Budget Speech on 01 Feb 2017 , all of my
proposals / schemes , will be in respect of ONLY the following promises , which
we made some 3 years ago in our 2014 Poll Manifesto , and these will cover ALL citizens.
THERE WILL BE NO SOPS , OUTSIDE OF THESE :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Elimination of Black Money
* Special Courts to stop
Hoarding / Black-Marketing
* Set-up a Price-Stabilization Fund
* Develop
Labour-intensive Manufacturing
* Empowering Youth for Self-Employment
* Transforming
Employment Exchanges to Career Centers
* Eliminating Corruption thru E-Governance
* Rationalization / Simplification of Tax-Regime
* Insulate Intelligence Agencies from political intervention
* Strengthening Physical Infrastructure
* Expediting work on
Freight and Industrial Corridors
* Setting up Gas-Grids
* Optical Fiber Network up to the village level
* Quadrilateral project for Bullet Trains
* Establishment of National " E - Library
"
* Implementation of National Education Policy
* Evolving
further the PPP model to PPPP model
* Building 100 Mega-Cities
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In yesterday's BJP convention , Shri Modi asked party members ,
not to get distracted by opposition criticism, not recommend relatives for
election tickets and work for the POOR
We will know by afternoon of 01
Feb 2017
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
08 Jan 2017
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
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