As elections fast approach, one thought weighing with the people is, what guarantee do they have that the candidates they vote for would not change sides? In Goa and Madhya Pradesh, they once voted for the grand old party, only to find the BJP forming governments later. A similar attempt is being made in Himachal Pradesh, where the Congress had a decisive victory in the 2022 elections. As Congress Rajya Sabha candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi lamented on Wednesday, he had no clue that some of his party MLAs who dined with him the previous evening, had breakfast with him on the voting day and took selfies with him, would vote for the BJP candidate. He takes solace in the fact that Harsh Mahajan won because he won the toss, as nobody gave him his second preference vote.
The Congress is not the only victim of its MLAs falling for temptation, which is as old as mankind. The Samajwadi Party had the requisite legislators to send one more party member to the Rajya Sabha, but luck was not on its side. The Bahujan Samaj Party has more or less been gobbled up by the BJP, which has won over many Congress and SP leaders from the Amethi-Rae Bareli belt to make the task of winning these seats by the Congress leaders doubly difficult. In Gujarat, the Congress MLAs, who won in the last election with great difficulty, find it convenient to join the BJP. The party has leaders who are even capable of invalidating votes cast against its mayoral candidate, as in Chandigarh. As a political wag commented, the best way to bring the BJP to power is to vote for the Congress, whose winners would easily cross over. Chameleon-like properties are not the prerogative of only Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
All this casts a shadow on democracy, as is practiced in the country. The anti-defection law passed by the Rajiv Gandhi government has lost its utility as politicians have become experts in circumventing it. As the ruling party at the Centre, the BJP has a greater responsibility to ensure that ensuring a fair image of democracy as practiced is more important than winning a mayoral post or a seat in Parliament’s Upper House. Alas, the party with its deep pockets and control of law and order agencies is not averse to using them to its advantage. What it does not realise is that the people will eventually lose their confidence in democracy.