For God’s sake, do your job: Pranab targets Opposition over disruptions

means you are hurt, you are gagging majority. Majority never participates in this disruption. Only minority comes to the well, shouts slogans, stops proceedings and creates a situation in which the chair has no option but to adjourn the House.”

Maintaining that he was not singling out any one party or individual, Mukherjee said “it was incumbent upon all parties” to stop “a practice which should not be acceptable at all”.

“My teacher taught me three Ds are essential in a democracy. And those three Ds are debate, dissension and decision. But there was no fourth D. At least my teacher did not tell me there is a fourth D, that is disruption.”

“Whatever be the differences, members have the opportunity to speak their mind and discuss issues freely. Even if a member levels an allegation against someone, no court can prosecute him because he has said so on the floor of the House. This extent of freedom available to members of Parliament should not be misused by causing disruptions,” he said.

The President called for electoral reforms, including increase in number of Lok Sabha seats, passing of women’s reservation Bill and simultaneous holding of Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

Deviating from his prepared text, Mukherjee said he was speaking “frankly and strongly” because there were certain areas regarding holding of elections which require attention and aberrations that needed correction. This, he said, had necessitated electoral reforms which should be taken up seriously.

Referring to the set of recommendations on electoral reforms circulated by the Election Commission in the first week of December, the President called for a public debate to make necessary amendments and corrections.

He gave his example as a member of the Lok Sabha where he did not even know the faces of half of the 16-lakh strong electorate which had elected him as their MP.

He said 543 members for a 800 million electorate and 1.28 billion population, which is going to be much larger in the future, is inadequate. “To give true expression to the will of the people, it is time that we seriously look at the legal provisions on the delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies with a view to increasing their number,” he said.

Accepting the fact that the proposal for holding simultaneous elections is very difficult, he said holding of frequent elections is a strain on both administrative and financial resources. “We are ready to pay this price for democracy, but it should not be at the cost of development in a developing economy like ours. We have to find a way out so that we can ensure that elections to Parliament and state assemblies are held together, if possible,” he said.

He said administrative and development work is adversely affected during elections since no new development projects can be taken up by the government. He made two suggestions: one, the period of holding elections should be shortened; and two, work related to the central government in a state should not be affected during elections in that state.

“If political consensus is developed, simultaneous elections could be held,” the President said, calling upon constitutional experts, Election Commission, state and central governments and political parties to sit together and discuss this issue. He suggested ways in which the Constitution can be amended to extend the period of President’s Rule in states to synchronise them with General Elections.

Mukherjee also hoped that the Lok Sabha will pass the Women’s Reservation Bill which has already been passed by Rajya Sabha. The Bill, he said, “is alive and could be revived. With a single party majority in Lok Sabha, it is a great advantage, as the Bill has to be only passed in Lok Sabha now”.