Pranab Mukherjee is the president of India. He could not become prime minister, even caretaker prime minister, home minister and missed becoming president in 2007. There was suspense about his candidature. When during Congress Working Committee meeting he proposed authorising Congress president to nominate candidates for president and vice president he seemed out of equation. Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav said they did not want him or Hamid Ansari and proposed A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Manmohan Singh and Somnath Chatterjee. It seemed all over for Pranab Mukherjee but Mulayam Singh Yadav turned around and supported him. JD(U) and Shiv Sena supported Pranab Mukherjee. There was split in Left Front. CPI(M) supported him. CPI abstained. At the end Mamata Banerjee also supported him.
Tag: president of india
Pranab versus Purno
Pranab Mukherjee and Purno Albert Sangma are the two candidates for president of India. When UPA announced Pranab as its candidate some journalists said he will get 82% of votes, Purno will get 6%. NDA and Left Front had not decided on candidates, CPI had said it will oppose Congress candidate, many other parties had not declared their support to any candidate. The journalists added NDA and Left Front votes to Pranab. Instead of being objective they behaved like Pranab’s cheerleaders.
Presidential candidates
On 12/6/2012 Election Commission announced the dates for presidential election. Strange are the ways of Election Commission. They announce elections for Legislative Assemblies six months before the expiry of the term and club various state elections together though announcement before 40 days is enough and clubbing elections together is not necessary and right. In case of presidential election the law provides for announcement 60 days before the expiry of the term and Election Commission announced the dates 43 days before the expiry of the term. Soon there will be vacancy of vice president but Election Commission has not clubbed together elections of president and vice president. S. Y. Qureshi was CEC when 60 days were left i.e., on 25/5/2012. He should have announced the election but did not do so and retired on 10/6/2012. Perhaps he was waiting for Congress to announce its candidate. On 11/6/2012 V. S. Sampath became CEC and next day at 5.30 p.m. he announced the election.
President of India
Election for the President of India is due within a few months. There is a possibility that UPA government may fall and Lok Sabha be dissolved. The election will be valid even if Lok Sabha and all Legislative Assemblies are dissolved and only elected members of Rajya Sabha vote in the election. Nominated members of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies do not have the right to vote in presidential election.
Modesty forbids me from mentioning the best person who should become the President. I will mention some good and better persons.
Lokpal Search Committee
The standing committee on Lokpal bill has recommended that the search committee for Lokpal shall comprise at least seven members and shall ensure 50% representation to SCs and/or STs and/or OBCs and/or minorities and/or women. Parliament should not accept this recommendation.
In India any person can reach any position. Dalits have held positions of President and Vice President of India, CJI and Speaker of Lok Sabha. If a Dalit woman can become chief minister of Uttar Pradesh any Dalit can reach any position. Historical marginalization is not a reason for reservations.
Cursed be the corrupt
In India corruption has reached stratospheric levels. Thousands of crores of rupees are siphoned off. Criminals get away. An ordinary citizen can not do much in his fight against corruption. RTI activists are killed. There is one thing an ordinary citizen can do and that is to curse the corrupt and criminals. Cursed be every…
Mercy Petitions
Pratibha Patil, for almost two years after becoming the President of India, did nothing about pending mercy petitions. Now she will take up one mercy petition per month. There are about 26 mercy petitions pending. Most of them were legacy of her predecessors.
Presidential election
Presidential election 2007 has turned nasty. Pratibha Patil’s record during emergency was dug up. Her comments about purdah created a controversy. Her role in the bankruptcy of a bank of which she was a founder and director, allegations of her brother being a murderer, her husband causing the suicide of a man, misuse of MPLADS…
Woman President is Rashtrapati
Some say pati means husband and therefore woman president of India should be called rashtrapatni in Hindi. Little knowledge is dangerous. Pati has several meanings. It means hushand, owner or lord. There are words like bhupati, ashwapati, gajapati and prajapati. They do not mean husband of land, horses, elephants and people. Here the meaning is…
Pratibha Patil
When I wrote about Shivraj Patil I did not expect the situation to change in the next 24 hours. Much less did I expect Pratibha Patil to be the UPA candidate for President. Pratibha Patil was not in the picture. Left Front did not go along with UPA. They said no to Shivraj Patil and…