Expansion of parliament

We had one of the most liberal and democratic constitutions in the world in 1972. Subsequently, it went through a series of mutations in character. The negative tampering with the constitution was manifestly at its worst during the military, semi-military and autocratic regimes. A curious combination of motives -- consolidation, perpetuation and legitimisation -- worked behind altering some of the original principles of the constitution.

But with the restoration of democracy from the autocratic clutches in 1991 one of the lost fundamentals of the constitution, namely, parliamentary democracy, was reinstated through a historic tripartite consensus of the political forces in the country. The reemergence of national consensus on democratic restoration and transition from presidential to parliamentary form of government was a landmark event in our annals of democratic evolution. The renewal of consensus taking place for first time since the liberation of the country and the adoption of the constitution raised the level of our self-esteem. We felt that the earlier disservice to democracy was more than mitigated. Then came the consensual adoption of the caretaker concept for conducting elections through a neutral and non-partisan mechanism.

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Such a preciously restored legacy of getting our act together on vital national issues would receive a serious set-back if the government party were to push a constitutional amendment arbitrarily raising the number of JS seats from 300 to 450. It's a very major issue. Where is the government's rationale for setting those numbers? Even the live issue of direct election for women MPs has been side-tracked. How on earth, can the delimitation of constituencies be undertaken sans consultation with all stake-holders.

Constitutional amendment is too serious a matter to be bulldozed by a parliamentary majority. The government would be well-advised to go slow, expand the horizon of discourse and engage the opposition and civil society leaders towards reaching a national consensus on the issue. Given the environment of suspicion which our politics is immersed in, the least we need is fuelling it further.