Why should any club election evoke such interest in the media and opinion makers alike? The question has no easy answers, particularly when the club is for lawmakers, meaning sitting and former MPs. We are discussing here the Constitution Club of India (CCI) elections held a day ago. 

Prima facie, the elections were held on a non-party basis, and we were made to believe that it was a friendly contest. Both these elements are broadly correct, except for the fact that the election was hotly contested and deeply polarised, which we will talk about in this piece a bit later. Also, not much can be read into an election in which only 700 votes were cast and that too from highly politicised voters!

 The CCI in the heart of the national capital has existed in its current premises since 1965, when it was inaugurated by the then president of India, late Dr S. Radhakrishnan and has only expanded and become more sophisticated with the passage of time. 

The high and mighty

So what was so special about the Constitution Club of India elections this time?

First and foremost, the high and mighty of the country turned up perhaps for the first time to vote in this club election, though their respective parties did their best to downplay this development as a mere club election. So, why was there so much of a media hype for, after all, a mere club election?

BJP leader and former union minister, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, the powerful secretary of the club, who has held sway here for nearly 25 years and currently represents the Saran Lok Sabha constituency from Bihar, was up against his own party colleague and former Lok Sabha MP from Muzaffarnagar, Sanjeev Balyan. 

Though it is still not clear at which point the media frenzy took over the election and who was behind it, it is a fact that in previous years, the CCI elections went largely unnoticed, primarily because nobody used to take an interest, and Rudy and team used to get elected unopposed. 

The CCI in its present form is a club for MPs and former MPs with all modern facilities, and parts of it are open to the general public, including the walk-in restaurant and premises for holding events on a nominal fee. 

Let's talk a little bit about the contemporary history of the Constitution Club of India, expanding in the 21st century. The current secretary, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who holds the record for the longest tenure so far, which may not be easily broken, entered the club during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1999.

Rudy continued his sway in the club even after losing the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Chhapra, which is now known as Saran in Bihar.  

The Vajpayee government lost in 2004, but Rudy allied with the Congress and Left MPs to meet the then Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, to persuade the veteran parliamentarian to take a keen interest in the club, since the Speaker, by virtue of the post, is the ex-officio chairperson of the club.

Rudy failed to persuade late Chatterjee, who refused to be drawn into the club activities, citing his constitutional position. However, the then Speaker provided all support for the betterment of the club. 

Chatterjee’s successors, however, did not follow the recusal policy and actively participated in the activities, but Rudy’s consensus continued without any hiccup.

So what changed after so many decades? 

A BJP contestant against Rudy set tongues wagging, though both Rudy and Balyan made it publicly clear that it was a friendly non-party contest.

In the end, it was not so simple. The election was caught in a caste and state angle. To make matters curious, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda turned up to vote. So did Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge. 

So, the election was polarised on all possible angles and led to all sorts of political theories. There is an interesting talk that the election was UP and Bihar versus a powerful lobby trying to take control of everything.

It is clear that the BJP top brass did not want Rudy, which is now more than clear with statements of BJP MPs, including the outspoken Nishikant Dubey, and congratulations pouring in for Rudy from the opposition handles. The rest is all open to various interpretations.

Nagendar Sharma is executive editor of India’s largest podcasting platform earshot.in. He was previously with BBC World Service and Hindustan Times. He can be reached at @sharmanagendar.

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