India, Oct. 29 -- Constitution cannot be governed by the loudest crowd.

Democracy belongs to the people. But that doesn't mean every demand made in public automatically becomes law. People use their power through the Constitution's institutions, elections, their elected representatives, and the legal ways of holding people accountable. When numbers, slogans and public pressure start doing the job of those processes, democracy can slide into mob rule.

The demand that the Chief Election Commissioner resign raises a serious constitutional question. Nobody is saying citizens can't question how the Election Commission works. They can. And nobody is saying public protest is wrong - it is a perfectly legitimate democratic tool. The real questi...