By elections in Karnataka: Who’s responsible?
Election commission has declared elections in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, along with three Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka. Mandya, Ballari and Shivamogga districts will have to face an unexpected election before they go to polls again in the next five months owing to this decision. The elected representative will last for a term of only a few months before the new one is chosen. Isn’t this a little expensive to use resources just so that the whole process has to be repeated again? As per the EC, three Lok Sabha seats have been lying vacant since the last few months so conducting the election is inevitable. But the question that arises right now is the usefulness of a candidate who’d be elected for a matter of few months.
Many political parties and politicians have voiced their opinions regarding this. How committed would this few months’ MP be, in his/her service to his voters? No sooner does he/she begin the work, there would be a poll code for 2019 elections. At best, this election would be a preparation ground for the forthcoming one. And officers would rule the roost for all that while in these constituencies. Two visits to Delhi and the MP would be home again ending his/her term. Isn’t this an insult to the democracy? Voters and the entire ecosystem would be taken for granted with this. Who are those people who made the elections inevitable at this moment? Instead of blaming something as hazy as a ‘system’, we need to identify persons who used the system to their convenience and pushed people into this inevitable phase.
When elected representatives meet with a sudden death, an election is understandable. But in this case, the elections have been imposed on people owing to vested political gains. Those who wanted to continue in state politics, why did they contest for Lok Sabha seats at all? Why did they assure their voters things that they could never fulfil? When they resign after such long drawn process, isn’t that much like cheating on his/her own people? Whoever wins these effectively temporary seats may contest again in the 2019 elections for sure. This irresponsibility has to end with immediate effect.
One candidate should not be allowed to contest from two seats of different or same houses so as to avoid investment of men and machinery later, to uphold democracy. If a candidate makes a decision of vacating one seat owing to his fancy, the EC has to make him pay up the expenses of conducting elections unless there’s a tangible reason to his vacating the seat. Because when people contest the elections that they made inevitable, and contest for the same seat in the same phase from two parties, he/she is mocking the democracy and nothing less. This has to be controlled and stopped to ensure candidates don’t get away with their powerful whims. Else, such operations will cost a lot of resources for the state and the agencies in repeated instances in the near future.
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'Engineered narratives': West Bengal guv on alleged molestation charges against him
Kolkata, May 2: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Thursday said he will not be cowed down by “engineered narratives” and the "truth shall triumph” after TMC leaders claimed that a woman working at Raj Bhavan levelled allegations of molestation against him.
In a statement, the Governor said, “Truth shall triumph. I refuse to be cowed down by engineered narratives. If anybody wants some election benefits by maligning me, God bless them. But they cannot stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal,”
To the Raj Bhavan staff "who expressed solidarity with him following some derogatory narratives that were circulated by two disgruntled employees as agents of political parties," a communication by Raj Bhawan said.
The Governor’s statement came after senior TMC leaders claimed this evening in a series of social media posts that the woman, who had levelled the allegations, has been taken to a police station to complain against Bose.
Though police sources said they received a verbal complaint, there was no official word on whether a formal complaint had been registered.
“BIG. Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose was accused of molesting a woman. How utterly appalling and Horrifying. Ahead of @narendramodi visit to Kolkata who is supposed to stay overnight at Raj Bhavan, a woman has alleged that she was molested while she went to meet the Governor at Raj Bhavan today. The complainant has been taken to the Hare Street police station for filing a complaint. The woman has accused the Governor of molesting her. Shocking and disgraceful,” TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said in a post on X.
Fellow TMC MP Saket Gokhale also posted on his X account regarding the issue.
West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said it is “shameful” that the Governor has maligned his post and has used it to “torture a woman”.
“It is appalling and shocking to see such an incident. This is the same Governor who had reached out to Sandeshkhali to talk about women’s rights and Nari Shakti. This is shameful that the Governor sought undue advantages in the pretext of giving her a permanent job. We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be addressing rallies in Bengal tomorrow to react on this issue,” she said.
According to sources in the Governor's House, the "woman employee with the help of her alleged boyfriend who is also an employee of the Raj Bhavan was blocking complaints (from people) being sent to the Election Commission of India.
"When she was reprimanded for that, she went outside and alleged molestation. She is in the habit of throwing tantrums against her colleagues because of some disease," a Raj Bhavan official said.
The West Bengal Governor and the TMC government have shared an acrimonious relationship since he assumed office in November 2022 and had several run-ins on various issues.
The BJP said it has to be seen whether this a “conspiracy by the TMC” or has an “iota of truth in it”.
“We all know that the TMC is politically cornered on the issue of SSC scam and is looking for a breathing space. So this needs to be seen whether this is a conspiracy by the TMC or it has any iota of truth in it,” BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said.
BIG. Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose accused of molesting a woman. How utterly APPALLING and HORRIFYING. Ahead of @narendramodi visit to Kolkata who is supposed to stay overnight at Raj Bhavan, a woman has alleged that she was molested while she went to meet the Governor at Raj…
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) May 2, 2024
Shameful that a constitutional office holder should try to prejudice an impartial investigation by attacking the motive of the complainant. We have seen this happen in that infamous Saturday Hearing of the Supreme Court. Respect women! https://t.co/E6eJLQvFXO
— sanjoy ghose (@advsanjoy) May 2, 2024
