The Election Commission has come out with an unprecedented 'advise', asking the BJP not to field Varun Gandhi in this election. It has found Varun guilty of making inflammatory, hate speech and hence the action.
Without going into the debate about Varun Gandhi’s speech, I am of the opinion that the EC should not have given such an 'advise' to the BJP, or to any political party for that matter. It is the prerogative of the party to field whichever candidate it may want to. More importantly, in a democracy it is the prerogative of the people and the people alone to support or reject a particular candidate.
Equally important is the fact that the EC has never shown the courage to stand up to the parties that field candidates with proven criminal background. Even in this election, parties across the board are fielding candidates who would be more at home behind the bars than in the Parliament. These kinds of issues cannot and should not be dealt with arbitrarily.
Having said this, it would be interesting to know how the BJP would respond. I suspect the EC has unwittingly given the BJP an issue that could overshadow the hate speech debate.
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