Unseemly exercise

TRUE to their billing, the Rajya Sabha elections saw drama aplenty. They were unpleasant, unseemly, tense, fiercely contested and mired in controversy. Cross-voting was projected as the game-changer, and the MLAs did not disappoint. The shadow of big money loomed large, and no one really objected. Several new faces are now bound for the Upper House, their lack of experience in public life in no way a hindrance, their limited association with the states they have been chosen from of little consequence. Call it the first resort or the last, the farce of huddling legislators together in costly closeted settings before the voting does beg the question: when their own parties can’t trust them, how can their constituents? The open invitation for horse-trading and a reward system for defying the party line are aberrations that are a poor advertisement for an electoral exercise, and that too for the House of Elders.

Personal ambitions and proof of loyalty to the high command apart, the high-stakes election has a lot to do with the numbers game. It would be wrong to blame one party or the other for the muddle, since none is above board. For the 57 seats to be filled, 41 saw no contest and the remaining 16 were the prize that had to be won by any means. The surprise results in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka were proof of the power games, even as Haryana lived up to its reputation that it ain’t over till it’s over, with a past-midnight final score that had remnants of the ‘inkgate’ scandal of 2016.

Post the elections, the political parties will see some internal churning, but the larger question of bringing change to the election process is unlikely to be addressed in any form. Since the results will not alter the House strength of any side significantly, the focus will remain on forming new affiliations and garnering support by any means, till the next Rajya Sabha elections.