Wrong Step - Times of India

The UP government's decision to ban political parties from fielding candidates in the upcoming election to urban bodies is flawed. It goes against one of the basic premises of our electoral democracy, which is the right of the people to organise and contest elections under the banner of a political party. The opposition in UP, united against the government decision, believes the move is aimed at manipulating the election in favour of the ruling party. The apprehension is not without reason.

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Elections in India are centred on political parties, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Most of these parties may have failed to rise to the expectations of the citizens or master the skills necessary to govern. Independent legislators and councillors may make for better administrators than those with party affiliations, but this is not a given in every case. We do need more professionals to join politics and contest elections. But that shouldn't mean a blanket ban on political parties. Rather, parties themselves should be reformed so that public-minded individuals can join the electoral process without having to draw support from communal identities like caste, religion, ethnicity and lineage. It is impossible, and perhaps unnecessary, to reorganise politics in India around non-party platforms.

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Interestingly, many more people without party affiliation get elected to panchayati raj institutions than to Parliament and state legislatures. Local dynamics, especially the limited size and spread of the electorate, allow individuals and small groups with limited financial resources and manpower to win local body elections. Will these positive trends be strengthened by a ban on political parties? Hardly. Political parties will most likely circumvent the ban by fielding proxy candidates. Since independents are not bound by the anti-defection law parties are likely to bid for them after the election. Outfits that hold office and have access to finance are likely to benefit from such a situation. In fact, Mayawati's political opponents allege that the BSP intends to court independent candidates after the election and gain office in urban centres, which have traditionally favoured other parties.

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