PM rushes to Pratibha Patils defence

 

We finally have the PM come out in support of the presidential candidate Pratibha Patil. He dismissed charges against her as mudslinging.

“Many sugar factories in Maharashtra faced financial problems and it was not proper to target Patil”

Prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh

This quote captures the essence of Indian political scenario better than a thousand blogs. Every entity is sought to be measured against something even lower that it. After a few years that entity, which is now par for the course, is measured against something even lower – and downward we go.  

Is the honorable Prime Minister saying that it is quite common in Maharashtra for politicians to do the bank-sugar-factory-scam routine ? If the troubles of the sugar mills and co-operative banks are mere business downturns, then can someone please explain how it has been so beneficial to their kith and kin ? Mere coincidence, perhaps.

No whip Mr Dasmunshi

It seems Mr Dasmunshi is completely ignorant of the rules of the Presidential election. Apparently, he does not like Mr Advani’s public campaign to make the MLAs and MPs of the UPA and Left parties to vote for Mr Shekhawat. See here :

Replying to the NDA’s allegations, Dasmunsi on Wednesday said the Election Commission should take note of BJP leader L K Advani’s call for a public campaign to “mount pressure” on MPs and MLAs of UPA-Left to vote for Shekhawat.
Terming Advani’s remarks as “dangerous”, he alleged at a press conference at Congress headquarters that the safety and security of the elected representatives would come into question in view of such statements

Source : IBN

Reality Check is now forced to page Mr Dasmunshi.

1. There are no nominated candidates of a party, nor any party symbols. Parties simply extend their support to a particular candidate. Not only is Mr Shekhawats independent status correct, it is also in line with the spirit of the presidential elections.

2. Mr Advani has every right to appeal to individual MLAs and MPs of the electoral college. In fact, if the BJP is still a force – it must spare no effort to appeal to individuals in the electoral college. Mr This is how is is supposed to be.  Mr Advani really needs to step in and save his party, the young guns (Sushma, Naqvi, Jaitley, even Rajnath) are not firing.

3. Mr Dasmunshi should know that the election to the highest office is not the same as voting for a bill or motion in this house. In case of the presidential election, you cannot issue a whip to your party members to vote for a particular candidate. In addition, this is a secret ballot – not a show of hands.

4. It might even be punishable under the law for parties to issue a whip to its members, because it would be tantamount to coercing, compelling, threatening or forcing a member to vote for a particular candidate. In fact, even “undue influence” cannot be used on any member of the elctoral college. See Presidential Elections Act – 1952 Sec 18.

5. This means that the projected figures for Mr Shekhawat vs Mrs Pratibha Patil that are shown non-stop in the media, is completely against the spirit of the presidential election. Every member is free to vote his mind without any threat of party influence such as an invisible whip.

To wrap up, a couple of links :

1. Allegations of swindling Kargil contributions by the now defunct co-operative bank employees.

Bank employees, in a petition filed before a court, have alleged that Dilip ran up a bill of over Rs 20 lakh talking to stockbrokers in Mumbai from a phone belonging to the bank. The employees allege they collected a day’s salary for a Kargil soldiers’ welfare fund but the money never reached beneficiaries. The bank also lent money to the Muktabai Cooperative Sugar Factory, which too was set up by Pratibha and is now defunct. 

See http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front_page&file_name=story1.txt&counter_img=1

The future supreme commander of the armed forces better answer the above allegation, which is part of a petition pending in court. Read about the legal immunities enjoyed by the President here.

2. A hypothetical what-if scenario from Barbadkatte titled “Dawood’s RTI plan“.

3. The “Nation Demands Answers” logo.