Must-have qualities of a winning candidate
Political parties are working on strategies to face the Lok Sabha elections due to be held next year. All parties are only focused on winning elections, and none of them are bothered about the kind of candidates they would be staging for the polls. Their sole need is to get a winning candidate into the fray. Congress party has already held a meeting under the leadership of state incharge K C Venugopal to strategise the approach to elections because the party has to win maximum number of seats in Lok Sabha elections. Hence, media reports suggest, the winnability of the candidate will be the most decisive factor. Yeddyurappa of BJP has also said something similar to this. Who are such candidates who will ‘win for sure’? What are their qualities? No party has bothered to elaborate on these aspects.
Earlier, political parties would specifically mention candidates with criminal background would not be given tickets to contest at all. Or, the focus would be on those with clean character and fresh ideas. But today, no party makes such declarations even for the sake of it. Because criminals are inevitable today for every political party. If a party decides against inducting them into the cabinet, the leader of the said party will have to lose his position.
BJP has no survival beyond the Reddy brothers. Congress cannot keep out the likes of D K Shivakumar. Which is the reason for political parties going silent on their background. Today BJP has the highest number of criminals and anti-social elements in its party ranks. Leaders like Yogi Adityanath who comes with criminal background, and the likes of Anant Kumar Hegde with his lack of character, are regarded as best bets in the party. How would the better ones even dream of getting tickets amidst such elements?
With their declaration of ‘tickets to only winnable candidates’ the parties are conveying victory as the only parameter to get tickets. This is the lone criterion, with money-power aiding this victory. If a leader like Siddaramaiah could come close to a defeat against Sriramulu, money was the reason and not political statesmanship that could have caused this shift. Srimramulu is hardly a statesman or a seasoned politician when it comes to politics. The Reddy brothers bought votes with money. BJP was hesitant to identity itself with Reddy brothers after Janardhan Reddy was jailed on corruption charges. But ever since demonetization, the flow of money was affected and to depend on Janardhan Reddy became an inevitable thing. The money amassed by Reddys has contributed big time to the position of party with highest number of elected seats in the state. The winnable candidates in BJP are those who keep making instigating speeches in public and remain in the eyes of the media.
The contribution of MPs Ananta Kumar Hegde and Pratap Simha is hardly a matter of cognizance. But their instigating speeches always keep them in news. They always ensure people fight in the name of religion, dharma and caste. This is how they remain relevant to people of today’s generation. Their speeches reveal a lot of their mindset without any hesitation, that they are fond of violence. This apart, they have no other deserving quality in them. And this may be the lone quality for them to even get a ticket from their party to fight elections again. Being communal and disrupting the peace of the society is another big deserving quality too. Yogi Adityanath became the CM of UP on the same basis.
This apart, having high followers among chelas and goondas is another winnable characteristic of the candidates. No party now needs good and deserving candidates anymore. Because everyone is after defeating their opponent and holding an office by hook or crook. Hence parties have come to understand giving tickets to new candidates does not yield good results. If the good persons are staged for polls, the party will have to give them funds along with facing the revolt of old candidates as well. As a result of all this, the country is now on the threshold of being ruled by criminals and corrupt politicians.
If this has to change, the voters need to wake up from their slumber and elect better candidates among the lot. So long as a voter does not realize the most important role he/she has in safeguarding democracy, there would be hardly any change in the political reality in this country. The same criminals will continue to rule us. If their choice gets better, even politicians may be forced to change their ways and become the leaders of people’s choice.
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Excise policy cases: SC agrees to hear Sisodia's pleas seeking relaxation of bail conditions
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear AAP leader Manish Sisodia's pleas seeking relaxation of bail conditions which require him to report to the investigating officer on every Monday and Thursday in the corruption and money laundering cases related to Delhi excise policy.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan issued notices to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking their responses on Sisodia's applications.
On August 9, the apex court had granted him bail in the corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, saying long incarceration for 17 months without trial had deprived him of his right to speedy trial.
The apex court had imposed conditions, including that he shall report to the investigating officer on every Monday and Thursday between 10-11 am.
During the hearing on Friday, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Sisodia, said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader has appeared before the investigating officers 60 times.
"I (Sisodia) am a respectable person," the senior advocate said.
Singhvi said that similar condition was imposed by the apex court on other accused in the case.
"The same ED has given no objection to all other accused," he said.
The bench said, "On the next date, we will clarify it."
"Issue notice, returnable two weeks," the top court said.
The former Delhi deputy chief minister was arrested by both the CBI and the ED in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
He was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023 for purported irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
The following month, the ED arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023. He resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28, 2023.
In its August 9 verdict granting bail to Sisodia in both the cases, the apex court had said it was high time that the trial courts and the high courts should recognise the principle that "bail is rule and jail is exception".
"We find that, on account of a long period of incarceration running for around 17 months and the trial even not having been commenced, the appellant (Sisodia) has been deprived of his right to speedy trial," it had said.
The top court had directed him to furnish a bail bond of Rs 10 lakh with two sureties of the like amount.
It had directed that Sisodia shall surrender his passport with the special court and not make any attempt either to influence the witnesses or to tamper with the evidence.
The apex court had set aside the May 21 verdict of the Delhi High Court, which had dismissed Sisodia's pleas seeking bail in both these cases.
The ED and the CBI had opposed his bail pleas.
