Why ballot rare moment in Indian politics

Both belong to an earlier political era of the 1950s-1960s.

The secret ballot by the BJP in Bangalore to choose its new chief minister today may have confirmed outgoing CM B S Yeddyurappas power to choose his own successor but at another level,it marks a rare departure in the process of selection of a state leader in a national party.

By all accounts,there have been only two instances of CMs being chosen by a formal process of secret ballot within the state legislature party that is,through a local contest autonomous of the wishes/diktat of the high command. Both belong to an earlier political era of the 1950s-1960s.

In 1956,recalls political scientist Suhas Palshikar,there was an internal party contest between Y B Chavan and Bhausaheb Hiray for leadership of the then Bombay state. Chavan won.

The second instance is that of Bihar,1963. The Indian Express columnist Inder Malhotra recalls that after the death in 1961 of Bihar Kesari Srikrishna Sinha,undisputed leader of the Bihar Congress since he first led a Congress ministry in Patna in 1937 under the Government of India Act of 1935,the leadership contest was suddenly thrown open. In the wake of the Kamraj Plan of 1963 to strengthen the party,Beer Chand Patel threw his hat in the party contest for Bihar CM; Krishna Ballabh Sahay was the other contestant. Patel proved to be no match for Sahay who polled double the number of votes as Patel and was sworn in as the fourth Chief Minister of Bihar on October 2,1963.

Though Indira Gandhi herself had trounced Morarji Desai (Indira 355 versus Morarji 169) in the Congress leadership stakes at the Centre through a secret ballot after Lal Bahadur Shastris death in 1966,the Indira Gandhi years in the Congress saw internal democracy,and particularly the autonomy of state leaderships vis a vis the high command,shrink spectacularly. The PM would choose the CM,no questions asked; she was said to change CMs at the drop of the proverbial hat.

On one famous occasion in the 1970s,the entire Congress party of Madhya Pradesh was invited to come and meet in the lawns of the Prime Ministers house in New Delhi, recalls Malhotra. She (Indira) announced she had accepted the resignation of Shyama Charan Shukla,a resignation he never submitted. And she announced PC Sethi as his successor as Chief Minister.

Later,PC Sethi was called to Delhi and Shukla brought back as Chief Minister.

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That trend is less wanton,but it persists. Today,it is not the PM who chooses the Congress CM,but the Congress president. Election to a state Assembly is routinely followed by a resolution by the state legislature party unanimously requesting or authorising party chief Sonia Gandhi to choose the leader in the state.

Of course,one-on-one consultations may be held between central observers and state party leaders including MLAs,MLCs and MPs,but the process is kept strictly informal,its outcome is not binding on the high command and the final candidate is always anointed with the title of being the unanimous choice.

The decision is taken by the high command after consulting everybody says Congress old timer ML Fotedar,a permanent invitee to the CWC. It is done democratically,to the satisfaction of everyone,and in a way that does not create divisions in the party. In the Congress,the (central) leadership has always been strong,he says.

Even in the BJP,so far,where far more leeway is allowed to state leaderships,the usual process has been that of internal consultations by central representatives with state leaders,followed by an announcement of the leader. Wednesdays secret ballot to choose a leader in Bangalore,therefore,regardless of its outcome,is a precedent that both the BJP and the Congress need to follow.