Electoral reforms

Ram Rattan Sharma
India is known to be a democratic republic but there are far too many ugly spots in the Indian-polity. Elections form the base of any democratic set up, and if the electoral process becomes anomalous and maligned, the whole edifice of democracy will get infected and crumble. Unfortunately, elections infested with all sorts of anomalies and maladies have become common in India. One may go further and call India a functioning anarchy rather than a democratic republic. Many people fear that anarchic element has multiplied to such an extent that Indian democracy might soon find it impossible to function in accordance with the rules of the concept. Despite the preventive measures taken such as posting security personnel paramilitary forces and other armed units, electoral malpractices like booth capturing, rigging, impersonation and bogus voting are common. All these prompted one Chief Election Commissioner to remark that Judging from recent events, it would seem that the country would have to live with electoral malpractices for a long time. It has become common place to fret about the links between politics and organized crime. The very nature of these crimes has changed in recent years, in the past criminals were content to supply funds and muscle power to politicians in return for some guarantees about their security. The criminals would be left free to commit their crimes without inviting the attention of the law. Now the crime lords have become VIPs: a new culture has developed on the basis of the gun and the bomb. The criminals have come out into the open, freely contesting elections and in more and more instances, sitting in legislatures and in parliament. From the criminalization of politics, we have moved to the politicization of crime. One can imagine the situation when criminals are entitled to legislate for the land.
There are many cases of voter intimidation, rigging and booth capturing. Fear and panic are spread because of the hire goondas and gangsters. Voting amidst fear and panic can by no means be regarded as fair & free. Elections become a force, and democracy a mockery. The present cost of elections in India does not offer equal opportunities to all the citizens to fight elections. The roaring election expenditure virtually queers the pitch for candidates having limited resources. The well-off individuals and political parties having ample financial resources of whatever colour have bright prospects of getting elected.
The people commanding fat purses themselves or enjoying the support of rich businessmen, profiteers, smugglers and black marketeers, alone can afford, to contest elections, state funds of elections and payments by cheques are some of the suggestions which have been aired from time to time. But from all accounts, there are no takers for such pious suggestions. Elections are fought and won on the basis of caste and religion. Everyone ignores the devastating impact that the exploitation of casteist and religious feelings has had on the political system. In such elections, the interests of the nation and the society on the whole are altogether ignored. To expect caste and religion to be wholly absent in a profoundly caste and religion ridden society is to hope for the impossible. However, this should not prelude efforts to keep caste and religion to a restricted domain, recent trends point to a multiplication of parties on the basis of caste, religion or linguistic region. A major lacuna in our electoral system has been that the electoral verdict is not effectively mirrored in the composition of the legislature. The present electoral system has resulted in an alarming and disproportionate gap between the percentage of votes polled and the percentage of seats won by the various political parties. In all the general elections held so far, on no occasion has the party that assumed power after the elections polled more than 48 percent of the votes. But the percentage of seats won by the ruling party was significantly much higher. What matters really in whether the political class can rid the system of its flaws, not out of partisan interest, but because such flaws erode the spirit of the only thing that keeps the nation and the people in one place i.e., our republican constitution once the constitution becomes a dead letter. Then the institution it has spawned lose their legitimacy. Then we may as well bid adieu to the independence, we so laboriously won in 1947. Various committees and commissions have been constituted from time to time to suggest reforms and eminently practiacable electoral packages have also been represented by the election commissions, but for one reason or the other the suggestions have not been implemented.
Some of the suggestions made by the intellectuals are, firm action against the defaulters and offenders. Propagation of the sound principles under lying the concept of election & fair play, reform of the electoral system so as to make it more equitable and less expensive, elimination of the use of black money, all out measures to end the nexus between criminals & politicians, neutral and efficient administration during the elections, deterrant punishment to those who indulge in malpractices. It needs to be emphasized here that if the process of electoral reforms is to be meaningful, It must involve a comprehensive overhaul of the multi track dimension of the electoral system. These reforms should among other things, take a second look at the electoral process itself and examine alternative systems of representation, restructure the election commission and redefine the powers, overhaul the election machinery and formulate a comprehensive election code, measures like introduction of electronic counting machines, issuance of identity cards to check impersonation, compulsory registration of political parties, compulsory maintenance of accounts of every party and compulsory audit through the medium of the auditor general once in two years at least. Some of these measures have already been adopted. One may also make internal democracy and elections with in political parties a condition of registration. Above all persons with criminal records should be disqualified from being candidates. The crisis our election system is facing today, there is need for a deep determination both among the politicians and the people, to erase the malaise.
(The author is former Deputy Librarian, University of Jammu)

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