AN UNDOCUMENTED WONDER : The Making of the Great Indian Elections

by S.Y. Quraishi

In May 2012 an unprecedented situation arose in Goa where a bye-election was to take place. The MCC had come into operation when the Election Commission received a representation alleging that the Chief Minister was planning to induct a probable candidate, Alina Saldanha, into the Council of Ministers prior to the bye-election to 27–Cortalim assembly constituency scheduled for 2 June 2012. The complaint was that this would disturb the level playing field as the voters would be swayed in favour of the new minister. The Election Commission issued an advisory to the government to defer the inclusion. The Chief Minister was very agitated and argued that he had an unfettered constitutional right to constitute or expand his Council of Ministers any time he chose. The EC clarified that he indeed had the full constitutional right to do so, yet it reiterated that it was the ‘advice’ of the EC that he not do so. It is to the credit of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar that not only did he accept the advice and defer the inclusion of the minister, but also remarked that he ‘bows to the moral authority of the Model Code of Conduct, which should take precedence over his constitutional right’. This response was indeed statesmanlike.