The Congress is set for elections for the post of party president. Since 1998, barring her son Rahul Gandhi’s two-year term in the interim, Sonia Gandhi has been party president. This has revived the debate on whether internal elections should be mandated for all political parties. In a conversation moderated by Sobhana K. Nair, S.Y. Quraishi and Rahul Verma discuss the current situation and what can be done. Edited excerpts:
Is there any legal ground on which elections can be mandated within political parties?
S.Y. Quraishi: Actually, as far as I remember, there is no law. In [the 1990s], when T.N. Seshan was at the helm at the Election Commission of India (ECI), by an executive order political parties were ordered to conduct organisational elections. And because Seshan was a much respected and feared person, political parties complied with it. Since then, elections are held periodically in every recognised party. If they are not able to hold an election for any reason, they seek condonation [for the] delay, which is liberally granted. And the ECI generally has been very soft on this. The ECI does not question the result or the procedure the parties followed. The ECI expects political parties to abide by their constitution, a copy of which is also submitted to the commission when the parties are registered. It is not for the commission to step in or criticise if anyone is elected unopposed.
