Quiet efficiency

IN the history of the Election Commission (E.C.), if a period has to be chosen to signify its determination to hold free and fair elections, it will doubtless be known as the "Lyngdoh era". Profiling the man identified with the period, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) James Michael Lyngdoh, is not easy. Unlike his two predecessors, T.N. Seshan and M.S. Gill, who often sought out the media to explain their decisions during their terms as the CEC, Lyngdoh keeps away from the media and believes in his actions speaking for themselves.

Since his appointment as the CEC on June 13, 2001, Lyngdoh has had only a few interactions with the media, and even these were marked by his emphasis on sharing the credit for the E.C.'s decisions with his two colleagues, Election Commissioners T.S. Krishnamurthy and B.B. Tandon. In fact, consultation and consensus among the three members on every decision has been the key characteristic of the E.C.'s functioning since the tenure of Gill. Lyngdoh imbued this legacy with his characteristic modesty and transparency.

Lyngdoh's success in carrying along the other members of the E.C. with him and ensuring that its directives are implemented by the Centre and the States stems from his flair for team work and the qualities of leadership that he acquired during his four-decades-long tenure as a civil servant. Known for his integrity and commitment to the values of the civil service, Lyngdoh is straightforward and non-partisan in his approach.

BORN in Shillong, Meghalaya, on February 8, 1939, Lyngdoh joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1961. With a degree in economics, Lyngdoh graduated from the National Defence College and was later a Parvin Fellow at Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University. He was also a Senior Executive Fellow at the Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Lyngdoh served the government in various capacities and retired as Secretary (Coordination and Public Grievances), in the Cabinet Secretariat in February 1997, before his appointment to the post of the CEC. When Lyngdoh was offered the post of Cabinet Secretary during H.D. Deve Gowda's term as Prime Minister, he politely declined and paved the way for his senior colleague, T.S.R. Subramanian, to take over. A stickler for propriety and norms, Lyngdoh was never known to bypass well-established traditions in order to curry favour with the political class.

It would not be correct to describe Lyngdoh as an inscrutable bureaucrat with no emotions. The autonomy enjoyed by the office of the CEC vests in the incumbent a fair opportunity to express his or her feelings and to be as transparent as possible. Lyngdoh's colleagues in the E.C. say that they have had no problems working with him as he would never lose his temper.

What then explains his much-publicised remarks against the civil servants in Gujarat, who considered the situation in the violence-torn State as normal, when he and his colleagues toured Ahmedabad and Vadodara, before taking the crucial decision to defer the Assembly elections (Frontline, September 13)? "Are you a joker? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" he is reported to have asked a District Collector in response to his claims of normalcy. Before he began the tour, he reportedly called those who urged early elections in Gujarat as `mad'.

As is characteristic of him, Lyngdoh was nonchalant in the presence of mediapersons, who reported his remarks. His intention was not to humiliate the officers concerned, but to express his anguish and anger over their insensitivity to the plight of the victims of the violence. Moreover, the E.C. was on a fact-finding mission and it was its duty to seek explanations from the State government officials about what it witnessed in the relief camps and elsewhere.

Again, his description of the demand for early elections in Gujarat as "mad" should be seen in the context in which the comment was made. Media reports had given a fairly comprehensive picture of the violence-ravaged State, and to hold polls close on the heels of such events would have been considered irrational and inappropriate.

Similarly, Lyngdoh described the pre-election situation in Gujarat, in the background of the vicious campaign unleashed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad against the minorities and against their political adversaries, sometimes making Lyngdoh too a target of their ire, as "nasty". In this instance too any person could have chosen a similar expression to describe the situation in the State. Later, Modi linked the E.C.'s decision to defer the elections to both Lyngdoh and Congress(I) president Sonia Gandhi being Christians. Replying to the charge, Lyngdoh said: "Well, it is quite despicable. I can say in a few words that it is the gossip of menials who have not heard of atheism... I have no religion. In fact, I think that religion is responsible for many of these problems." Modi's allegation embarrassed even Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who called for due respect to be shown to constitutional functionaries.

After his retirement in February 2004, Lyngdoh and his wife plan to settle down in Hyderabad. Until then, one can expect the E.C. to uphold secular values and constitutional objectivity.