It was hardly surprising that the tentacles of the ‘office of profit’ issue would have finally reached the shores of Nagaland with the Congress asking Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio to step down on the ground that the latter holds the post of Chairman for both the State Sports Council and the Nagaland Bamboo Mission. While earlier and ever since the DAN government was formed, there had been one or two issues in which the Opposition Congress had called for Rio’s scalp. The latest petition by the Congress is undoubtedly the first in which Rio’s Opposition has a case in point. If one is to strictly go by the interpretation of Article 191 of the Constitution, which says that a person shall be disqualified as an MLA if he holds any office of profit under the state government (other than an office exempted by the Legislature), the Congress may have finally got Rio on the wrong foot.
As such, the Chief Minister and the DAN government that he heads have some explaining to do on the matter. And since the Nagaland Congress has already petitioned the Election Commission demanding that Rio be disqualified as an MLA the matter now rests with the constitutional office of the EC which is likewise straddled by similar petitions from across the country as well. The EC on its part will have to carefully examine the Nagaland petition seeking disqualification of Rio and maintain consistency as per the meaning of the law as in the case of Jaya Bachchan, whose membership of the Rajya Sabha had been recommended for disqualification by the EC.
On it part, the Nagaland Government will have to either wait for the recommendation from the EC or initiate its own legal course of action. While the DAN government has the option of passing a bill, it will also have to decide the course it wants to take to come up with such a bill. One of the option before the DAN government is to issue an ordinance for the time being as the assembly is presently not in session. However such an ordinance will be seen as a move to ‘save’ the Chief Minister from being disqualified as an MLA, which the Congress will in all likelihood oppose bitterly.
The feasibility of convening a special session of the Assembly therefore requires the urgent attention of the State legislators irrespective of political affiliation. The Opposition Congress should keep its door open if such recourse is proposed by the ruling government keeping in mind the larger issue of making the necessary changes in the current law to remove some of the ambiguity on the question of ‘office of profit’. Much will therefore also depend on the Congress and whether it is willing to relent from its political posturing. As the highest law making body of the State the 60 Member State Legislative Assembly will indeed be the proper forum to address the present constitutional dilemma.
The Congress may have caught Rio on the defensive but the former has as much responsibility to come forward and deliberate in clearing the ambiguity surrounding the term ‘Office of Profit’. By following a one track bend of mind there is every possibility that the problem itself may bounce back on the Congress Legislators as was the case when the Congress in Uttar Pradesh first orchestrated the downfall of Jaya Bachchan not knowing that their leader Sonia Gandhi would be the next victim. The allurement for office is a larger political issue and goes much beyond the likes of Sonia Gandhi and Neiphiu Rio.
