The Hindu Editorial Analysis : 20th February 2023

20/02/2023

Table of Contents

The Hindu Editorial Analysis

The Importance of Reading The Hindu Editorial: Reading The Hindu newspaper has several benefits, including improving reading skills, facilitating comprehension, staying informed of current events, enhancing essay writing, and more. For individuals aiming for a career in banking, reading editorials is crucial for vocabulary building. In this article, we will examine today’s editorials, provide practice questions, and highlight important vocabulary words.

Aldermen quarrel.

The Supreme Court has rightly shot down the brazen and legally untenable claim that nominated members of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) may be allowed to vote in the election of its Mayor.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought to bend the rules to allow the 10 aldermen, nominated by the Lieutenant-Governor, to vote in the election, despite the law limiting the process to elected Councilors.
That is a question concerning whether a mayoral election should engage national attention due to the political acrimony between the ruling BJP at the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),which runs the elected regime in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The BJP sought to interpret the relevant provisions in the Constitution and the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act in such a way that the speci!c bar on nominated members voting in “meetings” of the corporation should not be applied to its first meeting, at which the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are elected.
It takes a particularly perverse political imagination to argue that “meetings” do not include the “first meeting.
Three attempts to hold the mayoral election, following the MCD polls that took place in December 2022, were stalled by clashes between AAP and BJP councilors over this question.
The verdict vindicates the position of AAP,which has 134 councilors in the 250-member Council, against the BJP’s 104.

It is unfortunate that before the Court, the Lt.Governor also took the questionable political stand that the restriction on the right to vote in Article 243R(2) of the Constitution and the provision to Section 3(3)(b)(i) of the Act was limited to regular meetings, and not to the first meeting of the Council.
The Court rejected the argument,noting that the law provides for the nomination of 10 people “with special knowledge and experience in municipal administration”, but without any voting right.
In keeping with the Court’s order, Lt. Governor V.K. Saxena has now approved February 22 as the date for the election of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and six members of the Standing Committee.

Practice Questions:

Why did the court reject the argument regarding the law?
Why does the verdict vindicate the position of AAP?

Important Vocabs:

Vindicate- to prove that something is true or that you were right about doing something
Brazen- without embarrassment
Untenable- not able to be maintained
Perverse- liking to behave in a way that is not acceptable
Regime- a method or system of government