Menu

RESERVATION, NUISANCE POLITICS AND OVERRIDING EEFECTS ON ELECTION

Publications, Research paper
  • ABSTRACT:

This study will focus on the following topics: India’s reservation history; the necessity and significance of reservation; constitutional amendments; significant rulings and precedents; the application of separation of powers (judicial, executive, and legislative) in the implementation of reservation policies for the oppressed classes of society; and how, in 2023, reservation has become a central issue, leading political parties to misuse electoral votes in order to further their own avaricious agendas. Reservation is a type of affirmative action used in India with the goal of giving distinct underrepresented communities a fixed number of seats in social and educational institutions. However, the laws pertaining to reservation, which have numerous loopholes, have not been curtailed by the representatives in Parliament.

  • KEYWORDS:

Reservation, Constitutional Amendments, Precedence, Separation of Power, Electoral votes, Educational and social institution, Under-represented communities.

  • INTRODUCTION:

The evolution of Reservation in India can be traced back when India was under the control of British. At, that time the Indian society was divided into various cased based system that is the Brahmin, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras which everyone must be aware of. But there was one section of society which has always been neglected and suppressed by the upper strata they are the Harijans in general they are called as Untouchable. The people belonging to this society were harassed and exploited especially the women’s and children. Therefore, to the uplift this section of society for the first time in 1950 the country’s first affirmative action to bring reform in the society was established in Indian society. As we know that society is Dynamic it can never stay static but the concept of reservation has still not changed rather constantly it is been abused by the Political parties in order to satisfy their vote banks. As it is greatly said that, “ they say if you don’t vote, you get the government you deserve, and if you do, you never get the results you expected” this is what Indian politics is known for especially witnessing the current issues which took place in Maharashtra and which is going in Bihar is all the symbol of nuisance in society by using a reservation and caste as a tool. Recently in “Jarnail Singh v Lacchmi Narain Gupta” Jarnail a constitutional bench. “A path forward leading to an egalitarian, casteless, and classless society,” stated by Justice Tridevi.. She further added that any reservation policy must have a tie span. “As a first step, we should review the reservation system in the wider interest of society as a whole, as we approach 75 years of independence.,” Justice Trivedi Said.

As per our Indian Constitution there many Rights which cover the articles related to the promotion of Reservation. The articles are as follows:

  • Fundamental Right:
  • Article 15(4): This article was added in constitution through Constitution First (Amendment) Act 1951. This article clearly states that the states shall provide the special status to the people who belong to educationally, socially, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe.
  • Article 16(4): This article was added in constitution through Constitution Seventy Seventh (Amendment) Act 1995. This article clearly states that the states have the right to make special provisions for those section of society who are not adequately represented and need the recognition in the state services.
  • Directive Principles of State Policy:
  • Article 41: This article requires the State to effectively provide for the rights to employment, education, and public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, illness, and disability, as well as in other cases of unjustifiable need, while remaining within the bounds of its economic capacity and development.
  • Article 45: According to this article, the State will work to ensure that all children get free, obligatory education up until the age of fourteen within ten years of the Constitution’s adoption.
  • Article 46: This section focuses on the weaker segments of society, especially the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, should have their educational and economic interests given special attention by the State. They should also be shielded from any form of social justice action taken by the community.
  • Article 334: Originally, this article stipulated that seats in the House of People and state legislative assemblies would be reserved for ten years for members of scheduled castes and tribes.
  • Article 340: This article also calls for the formation of a commission to examine the circumstances surrounding the socially and educationally disadvantaged groups and offer suggestions for how to better their lot in life.

The aforementioned articles were created to mandate and uphold the society’s environment of equality, unity, and fraternity. The purpose of these provisions is to provide equality of status and opportunity by expediting the uplift of the poorer classes. However, the political parties have destroyed the significance of all the provisions today. Even though India is a democratic country, the grim truth is that reservations have grown to be the greatest threat to both mediocracy and Indian nationals.

  • RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

As the Research paper is based on the relevancy and how the meaning of reservation has changed in contemporary India. The Research is based on both the Primary Sources (Landmark Judgement, Precedence, Constitution, Provisions, Regulations, Statutes, etc) and Secondary sources (Books, Newspapers Articles, Journals, Websites, Legal commentaries, etc).

  • REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

As it is greatly quoted that “Respect for all, reward for worthy, reservation for none.” This study is not against the Reservation in India the study focuses on the misuse of the reservation policy in society. In India Reservation Policy especially the caste-based reservation system has emanated many controversies, discussions, and riots type agitations among the people. For e.g.: Recently the conflict which took place in Manipur has disrupted the real meaning of reservation. The core reason of this simmering tensions between the Meitei and Kuki (The ethnic group of Manipur) was erupted because of the hatchet job of the government. The government of accused of pursuing policies that discriminated against Kukis, including forced evictions that threatened the security of their land. Further in the month of March the court came up with the decision to grant the “Scheduled Tribal Status” to Meitei group, entitling them to the same economic benefits and other educational benefits given to the kukis community. If we try to accumulate all the above issued the only contention is drawn that firstly, the Manipur government made the policies which are favouring the people of Meitei community and giving them the special status of without any statistics or conducting any proper the only reason of promoting the community because the members in present government of Manipur belong to Meitei community. Secondly, the government was clearly aware that introduction of such reservation policies will going to benefit their vote banks rather thinking the repercussions of such policies and because of such nuisance the kukis community were targeted especially the women. This same issue was followed in Maharashtra by the setting the house on fire MLA for going against the reservation for Maratha. All these incidents are the failure of Democracy in India, misuse of the Reservation system, failure of the Election commission of India.

  • ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA: A PARTISAN
  • Brief Introduction of Election Commission of India: India’s Electoral commission is an independent constitutional authority responsible for the administration of electoral process in India at the national, state and district levels. The Commission has made a great deal of effort for the success of the elections and, consequently, for democracy. Therefore, it is also known as the Protector of the Democracy and Free Fair in India. Day an again the Election Commission of India have made several changes in order to conduct free and fair election. The best example of this is the invention of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) which has in true sense improved the electoral procedures by making use of scientific and technological advances. The Electoral Commission has taken a step in the right direction by attempting to impose such measures. Additionally, when presenting the nomination paper, the Electoral Commission obtains information about its assets through an affidavit.
  • Loopholes:  But nowadays Elections are costly affair. These regular elections might occasionally scare political parties, as well as aspirant ones. The votes are as a commodity market through purchase and sale (recent examples of asking vote in the name of reservation policy in Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Manipur, etc). The current majority system creates numerous problems. The policy of caste and community division throughout society is the result of this system. Instead, to win, candidates have to get more than 50 per cent of the votes in any election. Another problem is Muscular power and dominance is another major step backward in the Indian electoral system. Booth capture, rig, frighten voters and also personal poling, violence before, during and after elections are various forms of muscular power. The present measures are not sufficient to avoid the aforementioned embezzlements and fair elections. Last but not the least getting votes and embezzling the election process the political parties had always played the game of carrot and stick y discriminating people in the name of Caste and Reservation. Caste and Reservation has always been at the forefront of Indian politics. These interests ultimately influence socialization and consequently individual political thought, consciousness and participation. Castes affect the development of government policies. The programs, policies and statements of political parties are done while taking caste into account. The caste factor influences the formation of the cabinet and the appointments to the various political positions of the government. Politicians negotiate votes over caste lines.
  • Way Forward: The other election commissioners must be granted the same constitutional protections as CEC. There must be a cooling-off period for any political or constitutional appointments for the departing CECs and ECs after retirement in order to prevent favouritism to any political parties or candidates. Establish a convention where the most senior election commissioner should be promoted to the position of chief election commissioner automatically in order to give election commissioners a sense of security and protect them from influence from the executive branch. The commission’s expenses must be billed to the India’s consolidated money for its impartial operations.
  • Interpretation by courts in relation to Reservation Policies along with landmark Judgements:

Over the years, judges have interpreted reservation policies in a number of different ways. While interpreting the policies the courts have came up with contentions like as the reservation shall only sustain for 10 years the same was stated by Dr.B.R.Amedkar. The 103rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution was introduced in 2019 by the Narendra Modi-led Union government, opening the door for 10% quota for economically disadvantaged section which is generally called as Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of the Indian society. An appeal to the Supreme Court was filed over the amendment’s validity. The 103rd amendment and the ensuing EWS reservation were deemed valid by a five-judge Supreme Court bench on November 7 in a 3:2 decision, finding no violation of the fundamental framework of the Constitution.

However, there was disagreement between two Supreme Court justices, one of whom was UU Lalit, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) at the time. Despite their opinion that EWS caveats were appropriate, they concluded that the amendment was illegal in its whole. Numerous landmark rulings make it quite evident that reservations should only be granted to those who genuinely require them. The cases are as follows:

  1. The Indian Supreme Court held in State of Madras v. Champa kam Dorai Rajan, AIR 1951 SC 426, that community reservations went against the equality clauses of the Indian Constitution. This case pertained to the Madras reservation province. Nehru added Article 15(4), enabling reservations, to the Constitution as part of the First Amendment, which reinstated caste-based voting. Article 46 establishes the overarching premise of state policy, stating that the state must give special attention to advancing the economic and educational interests of the weakest parts of society and safeguard them against social injustice.Nehru introduced the amendment and stated, “It is proposed that Article 15(3) should be suitably amplified in order that any special provision that the state may make for the educational, economic, or social advancement of any backward class of citizens may not be challenged on the grounds of being discriminatory.” Despite reintroducing the reservation, the amendment had a significant impact since it created a precedent that the Executive might disregard the court.
  2. Currently the horrifying news of Maharashtra for burning out the houses of MLAs for not supporting the reservation rally for the validating the Maratha community to come under the ambit of minorities and to get the benefits of reservation. In Bihar also, the government has approved the 75% of Reservation for the backward class and this finding go against the landmark case of M. R. Balaji And Others vs State of Mysore on 28 September 1963 AIR 649, 1962 SCR Supl. (1) 439 The courts argued that although the Reservation should and must be implemented to improve the lives of the less fortunate members of society, care should be taken to ensure that worthy and eligible applicants from other groups are not denied entrance to higher education institutions. Under Arts. 15(4) and 16(4), reservations must be made within reasonable bounds. “The interests of the community as a whole must be balanced with those of the weaker segments of society, who bear the primary burden on the states and the center. Generally speaking, a unique provision needs to make up no more than 50%.
  • The breach of the 50 per cent cap on reservations in the Supreme Court judgement on EWS reservations has paved way for several parties and states to propose their own reservation policies breaching 50 per cent cap the SC in M.Nagaraj & Others vs Union Of India & Others on 19 October, 2006 said that “When it comes to promotions, the state is not required to reserve seats for SC/ST people. However, in addition to complying with Article 335, the State must gather quantitative data demonstrating the class’s backwardness and inadequate representation in public employment if they intend to exercise their discretion and make such a provision”. Again in S.Vinod Kumar And Anr vs Union Of India And Ors on 1 October, 1996 The Supreme Court ruled that, in light of Articles 16(4) and 335, candidates from the reserved category could not have lower qualifying marks in order to be considered for promotion. Furthermore, it was decided that it was improper to ease the qualifying marks requirements and the evaluation standards when it came to promotion reservations.
  • The case of Jacob Mathew v. State of Kerala, AIR 1964 Kerala 39, established that the criteria set forth in Article 15 (4) were not met by the categorization of socially and educationally disadvantaged sections on the basis of caste, community, or religion.
  • Once more, in the historic R K Sabharwal v. St. of Punjab AIR 1995 SC 1371 (1995) 2 SCC 745 case The SC drew attention to the misuse of the reservation policy by the state government and its advocacy of the SC/ST. The SC continued by saying that the fact that certain members of the Backward Class have already been nominated or promoted in lieu of general seats precludes changing the required ratio. As mentioned before, the roster position reserved for a backward class must be filled by the appointment or promotion of a member of the designated class. A candidate from the general category is not eligible to occupy a slot on the roster assigned for the backward class. One significant factor contributing to the misapplication of the reservation policy may be the appointment or advancement of a large number of members of a Backward Class against general seats in the State Services.
  • CONCLUSION:

 There are various factor which are responsible for the caste-based reservation system, such as racism, religious fundamentalism, the nefarious motives of political leaders, the unconsciousness of the people, and so on. Because in the present party system of India, many political parties have somehow formed on the basis of caste system and religious customs which is not desirable in the case of secular, democratic India. Today, the country’s tradition and solidarity are an extreme crisis. At present, capital has become a special instrument in the electoral process. The ultimate agenda to established the reservation system is to deliver equal opportunity to those people who belong to downtrodden section of society who were always suppressed by the other section of the society. It was meant to provide them the secular environment without any discrimination but today the concept of reservation is completely changed the it has lost the fundamental of providing the basic opportunities rather it has become the way or to be more specific the ultimatum for the government to win the election at the cost of misusing the caste – based reservation which itself go against the principles and rights of the Constitution of India.  Another problem is that there is a lack of education with respect to reservation policies. Though the government has introduced the policy but there are many who all are not aware of such policies. The real needy people many times don’t know their right to get reservation benefit and because of this the people who really do not actually require the reservation they take advantage of such thing. To avoid such issue the legislature shall enact the law related to the supervision and collection of data that which section or who all are the people who are in actual need of the reservation. Further the reservation should not be in the matter of promotion, it should be one-time aid including that it shall not be based on castes basis it must be on the economic, social and physically handicap basis. To conclude by saying that the backward classes cannot be allowed to remain backward forever. For the proper implementation of reservation policy, the government should take steps to see that whether needy people are getting the benefits. There are some problems with the reservation policy in India which need to be removed soon and government shall strictly work on the implementation of such policies.

  • BOOKS:
  • Laxmikanth, M (2017). Indian Polity. McGraw Hill.
  • D.D. Basu., “COMMENTARY ON THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA”, Wadhwa And Co., Nagpur, Vol. 2, Eighth Edition, 2007.
  • Singh, Shivam Shankar, How to Win an Indian Election: What Political Parties Don’t Want You to Know, February, 2019

NAME: ANJALI PRAJAPATI

BATCH: 2023-2024

COLLEGE: NMIMS (KPMSOL), MUMBAI