In the last Assembly election, the people of Meghalaya gave the BJP only two seats. Today, the BJP has 10 MLAs.
No new election was held. No voter went to a polling booth again. The number changed because MLAs changed their party.
This is what is troubling many ordinary people today. And they are right to ask a simple question. If MLAs can change parties after winning, does holding elections even matter?
Eight MLAs who won on a UDP ticket joined the BJP. One independent MDC also joined. Now the state BJP president says more MLAs and MDCs want to join. A decision will be taken after a meeting in Delhi on November 15.
The BJP says these MLAs joined for good reasons. It says they joined to push four important demands. These are inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule, amendment of the MRSSA to check influx, easing of coal mining rules, and relocation of the Harijan Colony from Them Ïew Mawlong.
The party says that with more MLAs, Delhi is listening more closely to Meghalaya. It says committees on coal and FCRA have visited Shillong after the numbers increased. It says it will protect Christian institutions. It says if people want faster development, they should give the BJP a clear majority next time.
But we must also listen to the other side, the side of the voter.
When a voter votes, he does not vote only for a person. He votes for a party, a symbol, and a promise. In many villages, people campaign for a party. They trust its leaders. They believe its manifesto. When their MLA leaves that party and joins another party, they feel cheated. They feel their vote has been taken and given to someone else without asking them.
This feeling is natural. It is not about one party. It would be the same if the shift had happened in the opposite direction. Today it is UDP to BJP. Tomorrow it could be BJP to another party. The problem is the same.
Some will say the law allows it. If two-thirds of a party join another party together, it is called a merger. It is not called defection. The MLAs do not lose their seats.
That may be legal. But legal does not always mean right. The law was made to stop defections. If the same law is used as a way to allow defections, then the law has failed its purpose.
Why do MLAs change parties? They often say they want development for their constituency. They say their old party cannot get work done. They say the party in power at the Centre can help more.
There may be some truth in this. A small state like Meghalaya needs Delhi’s help. Roads, schools, jobs and central schemes need central support. An MLA wants to be close to power so he can bring something back home.
But we must ask a hard question. If development comes only by joining the ruling party, what is the value of opposition? What is the value of different ideas? Democracy needs opposition. It needs different voices. If everyone must join one party to get development, then elections become meaningless. We will have only one party and no choice.
Elections do still matter. They decide who enters the Assembly. They give people a chance to punish a leader who has betrayed them. An MLA who switches today must face the voter again tomorrow. The voter can remember. The voter can decide.
But elections will matter less and less if this keeps happening. People will stop believing in manifestos. They will stop trusting promises. They will think, why vote for a party if the MLA will join another party later? Young voters will lose interest. Good people will stay away from politics.
That is dangerous for Meghalaya.
We need a simple rule in our political life. A mandate is a trust. It is not the personal property of an MLA. If an MLA feels he can no longer stay in his party, the honest path is to resign and seek a fresh mandate from the people. Let the people decide again. That is democracy.
We are not saying MLAs should never change their mind. People can change their views. Parties can change their policies. But when the change is so big that it changes the balance of power in the Assembly, the people must be asked again.
The BJP has grown from 2 to 10. It has shown its strength in organisation and its access to Delhi. That is its achievement. But the party must also remember that strength built on defections is weak strength. It may look strong in the Assembly, but it will be tested in the next election, in front of the people.
The voter is watching. The voter remembers who he voted for, and why.
In the end, elections matter only if the vote is respected. If we lose that respect, we lose democracy itself.
