Electoral Reforms

Ramesh Pandita
Govt., of the people, by the people, for the people is an age old dictum which has always been advocating and highlighting the need and importance of democratic setup of  Govt. and perhaps the only form of Govt which ensures peoples participation in decision making process of the country, rather a process whereby people choose their own fate through their elected representatives. Needless to say that all this involves one more important but forgotten aspect is to put right person at right place for right purpose. But the irony is people despite being so powerful have grown like a wild elephant that never comes to know of his massive and powerful body behind his wide ears.
Before talking about any kind of reforms there is always need to see to it as what actually warrants to such reforms and in the case of the country like India, need is to give a facelift to democratic process of governance and the first step towards it would be working on electoral reforms.  To give people and country a real essence of true democratic setup, reforms at all levels are inevitable and the urgent need is to have reforms in the electoral process, the reason and the genesis of all social unrest if any.
Day in and day out people are forced to come to roads to protest against the mal-functioning of govt and its agencies and this is perhaps what people deserve for not being careful enough while choosing right person for right place for right purpose.   Inconvenient truth about this whole mess is, people who most of the time discuss politics, accuse politician, the machinery, the system and above all, people who come to streets to fight it out actually belong that very group of people who hardly participate in the electoral process of the country, as such to put right person at right place remains elusive to them and under the prevailing conditions I believe these people even lose the right to come to roads and protest.  And the people who can be easily seen casting their vote or making use of their democratic right actually belong to that group of people who are not in position to judge or value the right person and to them season of elections is somewhat hay making as they can enter into bargain with political parties for cash or kind with maximum possible returns of their invaluable vote.  While the former group mostly being hopeless about elections bringing any change in the system desists from it and the lateral since feel alienated from the system as such en-cashes it without going into right and wrong.
I am reminded of Galbraith who ones said that poverty is the poor man’s culture, and the culture is something which is somewhat integral part of life and society and cannot be taken out easily. Accordingly corruption, nepotism, crime, betrayal, treason, perfidy etc is so deep rooted in the system that it has become the order of the day vis-à-vis culture in Indian social setup and cannot be taken out so easily the way some social activists believe can be done by coming on streets.
In democracy, electoral process is one such powerful weapon people are bestowed and blessed with and to make best use of it is where the key lies, which can help people to hound out menaces like corruption, nepotism, crime etc.  from gross root level.
Technology is one such key area which has revolutionized every sphere of human activity and can prove handy in electoral reforms, provided people at the helm believe in its fair use. Technology has already been introduced into the electoral process of the country to a certain degree in the form of electronic ballot machines, but that is just a small beginning and there is no end to it when technological blessings like computers and other electronic gadgets are taken together with internet to revolutionize the electoral process of the country.
Technological blessings can be channelized in effective manner towards the online voting process of the country and can help overcome the problems like
* Mobilization of forces at short notices from one place to another place
* Unique voter ID card on the pattern of credit or debit cards will help in avoiding misuse of vote and will generate a certificate of vote cast  by an individual to be used for below mentioned purposes.
* Problems like booth capturing and manual counting will be over, which most of the time otherwise creep up as issues and question the free and fair electoral process.
* People will be empowered to cast their vote from any remote location by using electronic gadgets like, desktops, palmtops, laptops, mobile phones, cyber cafes, or even form their places of work without wasting time, money and many more things etc.
* Defense and paramilitary personnel, who most of the time are deprived of their fundamental right to cast their valuable vote, for being round the clock on toes to defend the country from both within and outside threats shall be able to participate in democratic process of the country.
* Pre and post election violence can be avoided to a great deal.
* Long queues on booths can be reduced to a considerable amount.
Some other reforms which can be taken up to streamline the electoral process of the country are
* It should be made mandatory for one and all to participate in electoral process of the country and this can be ensured by obtaining certificate from the office of chief election commissioner of the respective states for purposes like.
* Govt, Private and Public sector employees may be asked to produce and submit the copy of certificate for release of salary during the subsequent month of culmination of elections.
* Farmers, shopkeepers, Business establishments may be asked to submit the certificates for availing benefits under Govt schemes, for issuing photo identity cards, for renewal of business licenses and many more..
* On the similar lines people can be made to pay tax and produce certificate issued by income tax deptt for all aforesaid purposes.
* Tax of employees and other tax payers should be properly calculated by respective departments assisted by watch dogs of IT deptt, by recording certificate that tax computed is correct.
* Trained IT professionals authorized agents and agencies should be involved to do the needful on small and other large scale business units, on the pattern of corporate.
In all these two certificates should be made mandatory for availing any kind of benefit or undertaking any work with the Govt and its agencies this will definitely ensure free and fair electoral process of the country and the people’s active participation towards the growth and development of country.
(The author is Assistant Librarian, BGSB University, Rajouri)

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