B D Sharma
The Assembly elections in our UT are around the corner and majority of our people are busy in exhibiting their versatility as political commentators. One is astonished to see the depth of their knowledge of politics. Even the common man is relentlessly commenting on the policies and programs of political parties through the social media these days.
While living in such a milieu one is tempted to join the august company of these political commentators. We incidentally have a lot of sweet and sour memories about our elections. Our country fortunately opted for the democratic form of government and in the scheme of democracy the elections are its soul and everyone enjoys a participatory role through elections.
The conduct of elections have evolved gradually in our country. In the initial stages of our democracy the election process was infected with some ills. Our State, as it was then known, did also not lag behind in conducting the elections in a perfunctory manner and our leaders relished in manipulating the election process. It all started right from 1951 when elections to the Constituent Assembly were held. Regent Prince Karan Singh issued notification in April,1951for holding the elections in Sept-Oct 1951. There were 100 seats(25 reserved for Pakistan occupied areas). Kashmir had been allocated 43 seats, Jammu 30 and Ladakh 2. All the 43 National Conference candidates got elected unopposed in Kashmir valley. When nomination papers of the 13 candidates of Praja Parishad, the main opposition party in Jammu region, were rejected, the party announced boycott of the elections. The two candidates from Ladakh, nominal JKNC members, were also elected unopposed. The House in this way had not a single member born out of casting of votes. All the 75 members in the House were from the ruling party. It may not be out of place to mention that Election Commission of India had not the jurisdiction over our State at that time. We had our own Franchise Commission and regular government officials manned this Commission and they acted according to the whims and fancies of the ruling party. Secondly elaborate election law/rules hadn’t been framed and the elections were held on the basis of cursory procedure laid down for the Praja Sabha elections during the time of Maharaja.
This Assembly as one of its first acts abolished monarchy in the State. Another important task for the Assembly was election of the Sadar-e-Riyasat. Pt Nehru wanted the Regent Prince Karan Singh to be elected for the same. But the latter was in two minds because Maharaja Hari Singh didn’t want the Prince to accept it. When the Prince dilly dallied, the Sheikh announced that he would get a simple minded peasant leader namely Mahasha Naar Singh, a resident of village Kheri(Bishana) elected to the post. The Prince however relented and agreed to accept the honour of being the first, and of course the only, Sadar-e-Riyasat of the State.
During the tenure of this Assembly the Sheikh started making statements left and right which were inimical to the security interests of India. Consequently a no confidence motion against him was passed by the majority of members of his cabinet. He was dismissed by the Sadar-e-Riyasat and put behind the bars. To the purists the dismissal of Sheikh was travesty of democratic conventions as the head of Government can only be dismissed if he loses the confidence of the Assembly and not of the Cabinet. But the democratic conventions hadn’t yet taken roots so his dismissal was justified by the authorities.
Next came the tenure of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, a man who ushered in a period of developmental activities in the State. He firmed up the relations of the State with the Union government. The necessary legislations, along with the framing of the State Constitution were done by the Constituent Assembly. The Constitution Assembly was dissolved on 26 January,1957 and was succeeded by Legislative Assembly. Its elections were conducted in early 1957 under supervision of State Franchise Commission. 30 seats were got by the ruling party unopposed and nomination papers for ten more seats were rejected by the Franchise officials who happened to be henchmen of Bakshi. Elections to the remaining seats were held and out of them six were won by Praja Parishad and one by Harijan Mandal. 68 seats fell in the kitty of National Conference.
Differences between Bakshi and his leftist colleagues such as Sadiq, Qasim, DP Dhar, GL Dogra, Trilochan Dutt, RP Saraf, KD Sethi etc had been cropping up by time the elections in 1957 were held. Consequently none of these stalwarts joined the government after elections. Many new comers got the opportunity to be in the government. One of them Mr Sogami became famous due to his sweet encounters with PM Nehru. On one of Nehru’s visit he as protocol minister received the PM. Panditji asked him, “How are you Mr Sogami?” Pat came Sogami’s reply, “Jenab, Bakshi saheb ki meharbani.” On another visit of PM he happened to share the dining table with Nehru. Understandably he felt uncomfortable before the PM while taking a roasted chicken. Pt Nehru assured him, “Mr Sogami, you be at ease, the bird is dead and will not fly away.”
The disgruntled NC leaders walked away from the party and formed Democratic National Conference. However with the intervention of PM Nehru all DNC leaders except Saraf and Sethi came back in the NC fold in November,1960. Sadiq, Qasim, Dhar and Dogra got berths in Bakshi’s cabinet.
The National Conference, as such, put up a united front in the Assembly elections of 1962. During the 1962 elections, the NC won 70 seats, Praja Parishad 3 and independents got 2 seats. Practice of short circuiting the elections still persisted. Of the 43 constituencies in Kashmir valley, 32 were won unopposed. “Khaliq made MLAs” phenomenon was at its best (Khaliq as DC/Returning Officer Anantnag had rejected the nomination papers lock stock and barrel). Nomination papers of the candidates were rejected on the flimsy ground that they failed to turn up on the day of scrutiny. The poor fellows, in fact, had been kidnapped by the ruling party. During the life of this Assembly Bakshi had to resign under the shrewdly designed Kamraj plan. After failure of Bakshi’s successor, Sadiq became Chief Minister. A true nationalist, he got designations of PM and Sadar-e-Riyasat changed into CM and Governor. Furthermore in January,1965 he merged National Conference into the Indian National Congress. Earlier in 1963 Praja Parishad had merged with Bharatiya Jan Sangh so a sense of national perspective had been thrown in the State parties.
Since during the 1967 Assembly elections, a national party was the ruling party and Sadiq, a conscientious leader was the Chief minister so it was thought that fair elections would be conducted. But the old habits die hard. Again 22 members in Kashmir valley were declared elected unopposed. A more subtle way had, however, been designed this time. The oath forms enclosed with the nomination papers were detached surreptitiously. A splendid way to reject the nomination papers had been invented. Indian National Congress won 61 seats, Bakshi who hadn’t joined Congress and floated his own version of National Conference won 8 seats and Jan Sangh got 3 seats.
Since a lot of hue and cry had erupted after thoughtless rejections of nomination papers during 1967 elections so large scale rejections of nomination papers were not seen in the next elections in 1972. GM Sadiq had expired and Mir Qasim had become Chief Minister. Only three candidates were elected unopposed, one of them being Qasim himself. It was an ignorable deviation. So a semblance of fair conduct of elections was seen. For Jana Sangh this election came in the absence of Pt. Prem Nath Dogra. For the two safest seats of Jammu City, Party gave mandate to two candidates who were not part of the political setup of the city. One of them was made to resign from senior Government job and the other got mandate as he had been nominated as his successor by late Pandit Prem Nath Dogra. This resulted in heart burning in the senior leaders of the city. Both of them won easily but a tug of war erupted between them as they started patronizing their own groups. Jan Sangh, a powerful voice of Jammu resultantly ended up in a split.
PM Indira Gandhi decided to bring back Sheikh Abdullah in the mainstream. So Qasim had to opt out. Sheikh was made CM with the support of Congress party in Feb,1975. This arrangement didn’t last long and Congress withdrew support. By this time Mrs Gandhi had lost the Lok Sabha elections in 1977 and Janata Party had come to power. They accepted the recommendation of the Sheikh for dissolving the Assembly against the wishes of Congress party. And elections were held in June 1977.
Janata Party had collected a conglomerate of political leaders to fight the Sheikh but the latter, an old player in the State politics had the better of them. Some leaders of the Janata Party had prepared a blue print to tinker the electoral process for winning the elections but PM Desai, a principled man, didn’t allow any mischief. All agreed that these elections were conducted in the most free and fair manner. The National Conference, which had been revived by the Sheikh, won 47 seats in the house of 76. The Sheikh became CM but he expired in 1982 and was succeeded by his son Dr Farooq with the blessings of PM Indira.
Elections were slated for 1983 and Congress party wanted a tie-up with the National Conference. But Dr Farooq by this time had shifted his loyalty to the Opposition conglomerate formed at the national level. When the elections were held in October,1983, PM Indira took keen interest in electioneering. But there was sympathy wave in favour of Dr Farooq so National Conference won majority with 46 seats. Congress party did also well with 26 seats with more than 30 percent of votes polled. BJP failed to get even one seat losing even in its stronghold of Jammu City.
Dr Farooq’s virulent utterances against Cong party and the Central Government, his frequent jaunts outside the State and his bike rides with a Bollywood actress disillusioned many NC leaders. With a proactive Governor Jagmohan at the saddle a sort of coup was engineered against Dr Farooq by his own brother-in-law GM Shah with the help of some disgruntled NC MLAs. He formed government with the support of Congress legislators. Interestingly the two women who were favoured by Dr Farooq for being nominated as MLAs few months earlier did also turn against him. Dr Farooq could do nothing but to lament and utter the famous line of Roman king Julius Caesar ‘E tu Brute( friend, you too stabbing in the back.)
Shah’s Government didn’t last long due to its internal contradictions. Rajeev Gandhi had become Prime Minister after assassination of Mrs Gandhi in 1984. Congress party and National Conference came together to form the government some months after the fall of Shah. And during the 1987 Assembly elections Congress party and National Conference had an alliance. Allegations of rigging in the elections particularly in Kashmir valley were made against the ruling alliance. Some Kashmiri leaders had formed a Front, Muslim United Front in Kashmir valley to fight the elections. Many people felt that government machinery was used to defeat some of them. Many of them lost faith in the electoral process and took up guns. With the mishandling of the emerging situation by the State Government and the Union Home Ministry, a period of senseless violence and arson started in the State. Pakistan exploited the situation to the hilt and rest is history.
In the meantime, Sheshan had come to head the Election Commission of India. He brought about significant reforms in the electoral process. He dealt with the rogue elements in the political structure of the country with an iron hand. When elections were held in 1996 in our State, there were few reports of large scale rigging. Though some deficiencies like the poor participation of the people in some constituencies was seen but there were no major complaints regarding the conduct of elections. Similarly Assembly elections in 2002, 2008 and 2014 were also held smoothly under the watchful eyes of ECI.
And now after a long journey and after many constitutional changes we are amidst the Assembly elections for the new entity of Union Territory. As the circumstances are unfolding we are going to see well contested elections. The two main players, the BJP and the Congress-NC Alliance are working hard and leaving no stone unturned to give a tough fight to the rivals. Who will come off with flying colours at the hustings is anybody’s guess.
Fortunately the election process has undergone lot of improvements and the electorate as well the candidates do not have many complaints against the conduct of elections. Gone are the days when large scale rigging used to take place. Nomination papers were arbitrarily rejected. Ballot boxes were broken and ballots(when ballots used to be same for all candidates and the ballot boxes were different) stuffed in the box of the ruling party candidate. Polling agents of the rival candidates were used to be purchased or kidnapped. With computerization of the electoral rolls and introduction of EVMs, lot of transparency has been ensured. The number of names missing from the electoral rolls have drastically decreased. Nomination papers cannot be rejected on mere technicalities. Election Officers cannot act arbitrarily. Superintendence and control of ECI over the election staff is effective and potent. Randomization at every step, randomization of polling staff, of EVMs and VVPATs is done. Large number of election observers, in every sphere General, Expenditure and Police, from outside the UT have been sent to act as eyes and ears of ECI. Model Code of Conduct is enforced strictly. Candidates have become more aware about their rights and responsibilities. Media has lot of presence and highlights any irregularity promptly. Electronic gadgets are in the hands of majority of people who can immediately record any happening and quickly share it on social media. The Election laws, rules and procedures have been fine-tuned and are perhaps the best framed and updated. Though we hear sometimes about the manipulation of EVMs from some quarters yet they are nothing but doublespeak. EVMs are termed as tinkered when some political leaders lose the elections but the same EVMs become all right when they win.
In view of all these developments people’s confidence in the electoral process has strengthened and they are taking a lot of interest in the political activities. It augurs well for our democracy.
(The author is former IAS Officer)
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