Recently, the incumbent Vice President of India resigned suddenly, which in itself is a mystery. Elections must immediately follow. Since we live in a democracy, and enjoy freedom, and we have a Republic, it’s mandatory to have a Vice-President. And so, a farcical election began and the race for the coveted post started gaining momentum.

The NDA government shocked the nation when the Vice-President was unceremoniously removed like a tahsildar. Incidentally, even a tahsildar gets an opportunity to explain. The former Vice President seems to hold less value than even a dismissed tahsildar. (After Mayabazaar, among the creators of new terminology like the brilliant “tee tha” theesesina thaaseeldar, in Telugu, were Bapu and Ramana).

Whether it’s a governor who goes into silence with a sneeze or a Vice-President, they still hold constitutional status. Nevertheless, in the search for new candidates, the BJP, Congress, and their allies began accusing one another.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused Justice (Retd.) B. Sudershan Reddy, the INDIA bloc’s candidate, of enabling Naxalism. Speaking at the News Conclave, Shah claimed that had the Salwa Judum judgment not been delivered by Justice Reddy, India might have eliminated Left-Wing Extremism by 2020. It is a serious allegation.

Meanwhile, the BJP IT cell specifically targeted Reddy’s 2011 verdict in the Nandini Sundar vs. State of Chhattisgarh case, which declared the Salwa Judum movement — a policy of arming tribal youth as special police officers unconstitutional. The party linked the case to individuals allegedly sympathetic to Maoist causes and claimed that the judgment weakened India’s anti-insurgency efforts.

Ironically, the same BJP had praised Justice Reddy for his role in the landmark black money case of 2011. In that verdict, a bench, led by Justices Reddy and S.S. Nijjar, reprimanded the UPA government for its inaction on retrieving black money stashed abroad and ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT). At the time, BJP leaders lauded the judgment.

Prakash Javadekar called it a “slap in the face” of the government, while L K Advani described the ₹462 billion stashed abroad as a sum that could transform the country. The court had also questioned the government’s reluctance to reveal the names of individuals with foreign accounts.

Urban naxalite?

The Union Home Minister himself stated that Justice Sudarshan Reddy had aided Naxalism. Though he didn’t explicitly call him an “urban naxalite”, he came close to it.

Justice Sudarshan Reddy clarified: “I did not deliver the Salwa Judum verdict. That was a Supreme Court judgment.”

To attribute a Supreme Court verdict to an individual judge is incorrect. Still, BJP opponents, BJP supporters, people who haven’t read the verdicts, so-called intellectuals who lack understanding, and the lucky few who got a packaged IT job immediately after a four-year degree all take turns blaming Justice Reddy as an urban naxalite.

This is not criticism; these are outright abuses. Those who know nothing about society, who don’t even play cricket but only watch it on TV while taking paid leave, or who relish mirchi bajjis on Sundays, can’t grasp these criticisms. They don’t read newspapers. For them, the editorial page is a burden, and they consume only cinema.

Vote theft? Who cares?

And then comes the subject of vote. The most disgraceful fact is that many adults don’t even vote. The middle class doesn’t even bother to check if they are among the registered voters. In a country of 1.4 billion people, a significant number of men don’t vote, and they don’t even know what “vote theft” is al about.

Who dares to fight against those who rob the rural poor? Heroes who protect women from rapists exist only in movies. A few pose for a photo at a protest, leave and take credit that they had fought for the cause. These people are becoming MLAs and MPs.

Meanwhile, fans spend a thousand rupees to watch their favorite heroes in movies, enjoying chips in the theatre, but don’t give a rupee to any beggar. Who among them has the mindset to ponder over the absurdities of the Election Commission?

Justice Reddy is up against NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan. When someone as cunning as Shakuni is advising a group like the Kauravas, victory is guaranteed. In the Vice-President election, will vote theft occur? Possibly! Cross-voting may happen. Defections may occur. People switching parties overnight are also common.

Ten defectors from BRS may vote for Congress. Whether they do or not, cases will still be filed. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter anymore. They don’t agitate for the people of the local body, but fight to spend five years enjoying power as MLAs.

The three with the eleven:

In cricket, there are 11 players and two umpires (plus a third with a camera). Similarly, the three Election Commissioners might perform miracles in coordination with the ruling party. The commission asks for affidavits for everything. They might even ask Justice Reddy for his Aadhaar to prove that he is either an MP or a voter. This is the state of affairs today.

Rigging or voting-Only a win matters:

Do votes even get cast? Can vote theft be prevented? Earlier, we used to call it “rigging”, but today, high-tech manipulation is much easier. No one except experts even tries to understand this.

Hence, the NDA candidate will win. If elections are held, whoever the President supports will win. The rest of us will go about our everyday chores. First, we have Ganesh Navaratri. Those ten days will pass. Then, the ten days of Durga Puja. After all that, we’ll be busy honoring the new Vice-President.

Not even one person, including the outgoing Vice-President or the President, will ask why Jagdeep Dhankhar had resigned, in the first place. Even the new Vice-President won’t bother. It’s unnecessary.

But if by chance Justice Reddy wins, he might question and challenge the status quo. That would create some friction. But not one voter will raise that question, nor will they try to find an answer.

To oppose the Maoists, a private militia called Salwa Judum was created, which the Supreme Court, through Justice Reddy and Justice S.S. Nijjar in a two-judge bench, ruled unconstitutional in 2011. These were court proceedings, and not personal opinions. Even if a single judge delivers a ruling, it is still respectfully considered as a decision of the Court, not of that individual. At that time, the BJP was not in power, so Congress couldn’t be blamed for supporting this verdict.

Nor can we blame the Andhra Pradesh High Court for appointing Justice Reddy during the TDP rule that would lead to more confusion.

Without defections, there is no constitution:

As of today, without party defections, the Constitution would collapse. Leaders like N Chandrababu Naidu and A Revanth Reddy have switched parties multiple times. Naidu defected to the NDA and switched back again. How do you describe that?

Today, the Chief Ministers of both Telugu states have changed parties and alliances so often that it’s chaos. In the election for the vice-president, K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) might not vote at all. And where does the Salwa Judum verdict fit into all of this?

Looting India in the name of Black Money

Not one or two lakh crores — but a staggering $462 billion in black money has been looted from India. In our religious intoxication and distracted elections, we’ve completely forgotten this. Is that Congress’s fault or the BJP’s?

If the BJP could genuinely bring back this black money from around the world, they’d keep winning forever. A great Supreme Court judge like Sudarshan Reddy deserves at least a Padma Vibhushan, doesn’t he? By that logic, he should become the country’s President. If the BJP truly wanted to honour the historic verdicts he gave, Justice Reddy should have been elected as the Vice-President unanimously.

What’s the point of blaming anyone? Where are ideals and principles now? So there’s no mystery about who wins or loses. Justice Reddy is definitely going to lose the election. But in truth, he is the retired justice who has won.

(The writer is a former CIC and Advisor, School of Law, Mahindra University, Hyderabad)