Editorial

Last week we wrote on the Indian elections now underway and lessons for Sri Lanka on how its Elections Commission (EC) is monitoring the polls to ensure a level playing field and free and fair election – as far as is possible. Already India’s President has cancelled elections to a seat in Tamil Nadu on an EC report that a candidate got caught red-handed using cash to influence voters.

As this is the ‘nonagathey’ (no activity) period in Sri Lankan politics, and with this being election year as well, it is worth further studying the unfolding developments in neighbouring India, the world’s largest representative democracy as its Supreme Court (SC) now moves in to nudge the EC to be more pro-active.

This week, India’s SC summoned the EC and questioned it on its performance. This was after a private citizen petitioned the country’s highest court saying the EC was not performing its national duty.

One of the key Indian laws relating to elections is the Representation of People Act that bars persons convicted of serious criminal offences from contesting elections. Candidates must declare their criminal antecedents when filing nomination papers and the EC can debar them.

In September last year, the SC extended this to not only convictions, but also to candidates and parties having to publicise “pending criminal cases”, and that political parties must put these up on their party websites for the public to access. Legislation on this is, however, still pending.

Another major initiative in India is the move to have political donations declared to the EC in sealed envelopes. In return, the political party for which it is meant is given Election Bonds. We have often said that the biggest bribe-takers in the country are the political parties, and the biggest bribe-givers are the businessmen who make good whatever party is in office. The Indian EC head this week announced that so far 2,600 crores (Sri Lanka Rupees more than 5 billion) have been seized by the Indian Police from political parties with the source ‘unknown’.

Given the diminishing calibre of candidates whom political parties in Sri Lanka put forward for elections — many with criminal records — and the amount of undeclared monies that rain down during elections, these are the issues the NEC must advocate. In the United States, the law requires candidates for Federal office to file quarterly fundraising reports at the Federal EC. The reports are public. All US courts provide online search and access to cases.  There can be instances of political opponents being indicted on criminal charges merely to disqualify them, or throw mud at them. Governments especially have employed this against opponents. Still, the people will make up its mind on the credibility of such charges.

Pushed by the people, the Indian EC this week banned a chief minister and leader of a party from campaigning for 72 and 48 hours respectively for using hate speech. The Indian SC is breathing down the neck of the EC to do its job impartially. Civil society in general, and the Sri Lankan SC and NEC can take a leaf from India and add pressure to ensure there are some standards maintained in electioneering in Sri Lankan politics.

Not to lose a good thing

 One must be cheered by praise being showered on Sri Lanka by observers in regard to progress in our Right to Information (RTI) journey.

A recent reflection by two eminent Bangladeshi writers asks; “What Bangladesh can learn from Sri Lanka’s RTI experience. It answers that question by saying that in Sri Lanka, there is “a perceptible willingness on the part of both the Government and the Information Commission to make the system work”.

It also points out encouragingly, that the Sri Lankan RTI Commission has, in “almost all the decisions, dissected the facts of the cases most painstakingly and interpreted and applied the laws to them most professionally, as would be done by highest courts of law”.

Presently in India, the Supreme Court has excited citizens by ruling, in regard to the infamous Rafale fighter jet deal with France, that the Government cannot withhold documents on the basis of national security. As one Justice said; “the RTI Act manifests a legal revolution” in the crusade against corruption and violation of human rights”. The Indian judiciary is also deliberating whether correspondence relevant to promotions of judges can be disclosed following complaints by affected judges that the relevant criteria are vague and non-transparent.

Sri Lanka’s RTI regime will soon confront these same issues. Easily one of the most creditable ‘yahapalanaya’ accomplishments, the use of RTI has been eclectic and remarkable, ranging from farmers getting details of their land ownership to trade unions like the Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka exposing corruption at SriLankan Airlines.

Recently, the Cabinet of Ministers declared that it would adhere to the direction of the RTI Commission to release the report of a Cabinet-appointed committee on irregularities in the construction of the Akuregoda Defence Headquarters. This followed the Attorney General and the Ministry of Defence accepting that national security is not an obstacle to the release. Details of payments made to a controversial architect were also made public.

Yet other developments raise concern. An Audit Act has been enacted with new offices being placed outside RTI. Now a Counter-Terror Act with references to ‘confidential information’ is before Parliament leading to public agitation. Reportedly also, murmurs are afloat that the Cabinet plans to go ahead with an old proposal to amend, and water down, the RTI Act.

Sri Lanka has few things to be proud of, especially in recent times.  One of them is the RTI Act, internationally ranked among the best in the world, and now being praised for its impact on the ordinary citizen, in practice. It may be revisited for the purpose of improving the administrative process but its substantive provisions should not be diluted directly or indirectly in any way whatsoever — if this Government has even a particle of commonsense, it is not to lose this one thing that stands to its credit.