Educated lawmakers

India, the world’s biggest democracy, remains alive in the framework of universal adult franchise as mandated under the Constitution. Therefore, elected representatives owe a huge responsibility towards the public at large. So, some genuine concern may arise regarding the qualifications of public representatives.

Article 84 of the Constitution clearly states that “A person shall not be qualified to be chosen to fill a seat in Parliament unless he (a) is a citizen of India,  (b) is, in the case of a seat in the Council of States, not less than thirty years of age and, in the case of a seat in the House of the People, not less than twenty-five years of age; and (c) possesses such other qualifications as may be prescribed in that behalf by or under any law made by Parliament.” The same is laid down uner Article 173 in respect of the State Legislatures.

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The provision is, although quite self-explanatory in terms of the qualifications of the Members of Parliament (MP) and the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA), completely silent on the educational aspect and thereby sets the context of this article. This comes at the cost of effective governance, public satisfaction level and the overall literacy rate of the country. The Constitution makers had shown their foresight by ensuring the minimum educational qualification clauses for other wings of the Government i.e. the Judiciary and the Executive. Therefore, the same criterion for lawmakers can well be established.

A former Election Commissioner, the late G.V.G. Krishnamurthy, had voiced this concern in an address in Chennai in 1998. However, the same was countered for its implementational complexities. Since then, much time has passed and the implementation of a minimum educational qualification has been kept in abeyance.

What holds back the lawmakers from implementing the minimum qualification policy? A few socio-political factors coupled with the voting behavior will help us understand. First of all, the voting behavior is taken into account wherein the voter’s psychology gets tailored to some prevalent factors. Voters often get influenced by catchy slogans, charisma of the leader, punch of religious sentiments, etc. No doubt this aids the parties to draw more votes. Each party has its own vote bank which determines the fate of the election and the leaders leave no stone unturned to woo these voters. Hence many argue that having a threshold of educational qualification will not guarantee a stronger bond with the vote bank, who mostly hail from the lower strata of the society.

Secondly, low mass literacy is something that disconnects a major chunk of the population from the educational elite. Indian politics mostly has to do with vote-bank persuasion, no matter how much the same is beneficial for the entire population. It can be assumed that the vote-bank population will anyhow vote for their favourite ones. This creates a vicious cycle wherein the said population gets hoodwinked by the hollow charisma of politicians and ends up bringing the wrong person to power. Such politics may not require the touch of educational aristocracy. But those hollow promises, untoward comments and absurd claims by politicians about educational qualifications pursued from some non-existing university or in some non-existing discipline, pose a serious threat to the democratic framework of our country.

Considering the mass appeal of MPs and MLAs, it is pertinent to ensure some degree of civility in their speeches, particularly in the recent political framework. Some formal educational qualification for leaders will keep their conversations meaningful yet appealing to the mass. An educated representative will be able to inculcate the value of education among the people and will ensure more educational opportunities to upskill oneself.  Besides, this is essential for understanding the legislative nitty-gritty. Since the elected candidates represent their constituency in the parliament or the state legislature, as the case may be, they take part in the lawmaking procedure. Such legislation is followed by the executive and interpreted by the judiciary as and when a dispute arises. This also overburdens the judiciary as it has to rectify poorly drafted legislations. So, the entire structure is based on the legislative product coming out of the efforts of less-qualified MPs or MLAs.

The statistical data as represented by PRS Legislative Research stresses upon the educational profile of the 18th Lok Sabha. Despite a steady decline in the number of MPs having undergraduate level education, the same started to increase after the 11th Lok Sabha. As per data, 78 per cent of newly elected candidates have completed undergraduate education.

The picture is different in the context of the 17th West Bengal State Legislative Assembly. In 2016 the number of MLAs having Higher Secondary education was 32 per cent which rose to 38 per cent in 2021. Decline is noticed in the number of graduate degree holders from 2016 to 2021 (43 to 39 per cent). For post graduate and above also, the trend has been downwards. Along with the concern about low education comes the credibility issue with some degrees. The ruthless and unparliamentary statements by some leaders raise suspicion as to their educational qualification. So mere prescribing of minimum educational qualification will not do much as it might be a cakewalk for some to obtain these in an unconventional manner.

Keeping this in mind, it is advisable to bring their educational background under some scanner. This can be ensured by proposing a screening process before letting candidates contest an election. A panel must be formed which will not only check the credibility of their educational background but may also assess their legislative competence. To prevent any bias, the panel should comprise of the retired professionals. Strict anonymity shall be maintained in terms of party affiliation of the candidates, their names etc. throughout the screening and assessment. This will filter out the most competent candidates who will contest the election. Such shortlisting will be done for each party and it should be based on the number of constituencies. This procedure, although not fool-proof, at least ensures some transparency in terms of the educational qualifications possessed by the candidates and their legislative competence.

Some may argue against such measures as legislative work requires more of public persuasion than some polished knowledge. In a way this is true but lawmaking in a democratic country without even basic educational qualifications impairs other government departments. The uneducated individuals without any legislative competence will not be able to understand the legal nuances involved in a statute. Also this creates a flawed perception of politics among the public by engaging in abuse of power, meaningless conversations, promotion of superstition over scientific temper, and ultimately doing no good for the needy ones.

To add insult to the injury, there have been past instances of tagging the reserved yet educated politicians as the “Mum” ones and thus doing away with the prevalence of educated politicians. Amidst all these some silver linings can be observed as states like Rajasthan and Haryana have mandated the inclusion of minimum educational qualifications to contest the panchayat elections. The same has been crystallized through statutes such as The Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act 1994 and The Haryana Panchayat Raj Act 1994.

Such inclusion of educational qualification in the Panchayat elections does not hinder the political work; rather it facilitates the implementation of educational measures at the grassroot level. So, the arguments supporting the disconnect between education and election are not tenable. Further it creates an irony as the ones contesting Panchayat Elections in those states must have a prescribed educational background while the ones making the law may be devoid of any education.

Apart from this, it sets a worrying trend as the politicians rampantly commit verbal abuse using the filthiest possible language. With education comes competence and political foresightedness. Hence, keeping in mind the famous saying i.e. ‘A fish rots from its head’, it has become even more imperative to educate the government’s topmost echelon, who are involved in policy making.

The ­writer is a final year law student at St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata.