-Ramesh Chander 

(Asian Independent)- India that is Bharat is the largest democracy in the world with about 1400 million people and more that 900 million voters on the basis of ‘universal adult franchise’ and on the principle of ‘one vote – one value’. It goes without saying, obviously, periodic elections is the very edifice of the democracy. Our forefathers, realizing full well the importance and value of ‘free and fair elections’ provided for an independent and autonomous constitutional agency, the Election Commission of India, in the Article 324 of the Constitution of India which stipulates that the power of superintendence, direction and control of elections to parliament, state legislatures, the office of the President and the office of the Vice President of India shall be vested in the EC. It does not any further reiteration that elections are the key to the health of our polity.

We have come a long way in the process. Elections of the coveted positions like President, Vice President and Parliament, State Legislative Assemblies are regularly held and the guidance and supervision of the Election Commission of India in cooperation and consultation with State Election Commissions and the administrative machinery. Local body elections – Municipal Corporations and Councils, Zila Parishads and Village Panchayats are held by the State Election Commission in consultation with the concerned state government with a streamlined and well established procedure. With this, India is a functional but a noisy democracy which needs further reform and streamlining. Over the years, many electoral reforms have been made to meet the emerging challenges and needs. But still, it is felt, we are to go a long way as we, it seems, have ‘arrived but still to reach’.

My immediate motivation to write this emanated from the news item – weighing on the freebie debate, Election Commission wants cost and funding plans of all poll promises.  It seems a half hearted attempt to please the political dispensations in the corridors of power. The Hindustan Times of October 6 has rightly commented in an editorial, “Freebies do pose a threat to India’s fiscal health but the ECI proposal may be counterproductive. Whether the Election Commission has ‘over stepped its remit’? How will it help in strengthening the ‘free and fair elections, the basic mandate of the constitutional authority, are a debatable issue? I would not go into these details instead would focus on the much needed electoral reforms; particularly with regard to holding and conducting of elections with reference to the ground realities and our experience since 1952. India stands as a model for many emerging democracies around the world.  Free and fair elections are the hallmark of democracy.  While we are justifiably proud of our democracy, there are a number of areas which need to be strengthened for us to realize the true potential of a well functioning democracy.  Elections are the lifeline of democracy. The danger of ‘fusion of capital and politics’ is real as said by Siddarath Varadharajan in an article in the Economic Times some years ago, “In 1943, even before India was free, Babasaheb Ambedkar spoke of the danger posed by the fusion of capital and politics, “These days, with the Press in hand, it is easy to manufacture great men,” he noted caustically — and presciently. “In establishing their supremacy”, our great men “have taken the aid of big business and money magnates. For the first time in our country, money is taking the field as an organized power.” Not that the authorities are oblivious of the electoral reforms needed and efforts have been made by various dispensations but it seems there is a definite deficit of ‘political will and political morality’ to deal with the is sue. The Representation of the People Act (RPA) of 1951 provided the first set of rules for the conduct of elections to the Houses of Parliament and State Legislatures. Over the years the RPA has been amended to reflect changing needs. The ruling dispensations, over the years, did appoint various committees to reform and transform our election process to streamline and strengthen our democratic system. But problem remained. If we are serious to make our democratic polity really dynamic and fully representative, we need to address the issue with added impetus. Our forefathers were men of vision. Anjali Chauhan, a political analyst, has recently wrote in an article – Ambedkar’s Vision of Democracy and while narrating the meaning of democracy wrote, “He (Babasaheb Ambedkar) moved a step forward from Walter Bagehot, for whom democracy was a government by discussion and from Abraham Lincoln, for whom democracy was a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Ambedkar defined democracy as “a form and a method of government whereby revolutionary changes in the economic and social life of the people are brought about without bloodshed”.  Here lies the importance of free and fair election as the American President Thomas Jefferson said, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”

Broadly, the issues inflicting the electoral process in India are – Money power, Muscle power, Criminalization of politics, Misuse of government machinery, Caste bias, Communalism, Lack of moral values, Lack of political polarization on the basis of ideology, inter alia, and above all ‘constitutional morality’ of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s vision as explained by Anjali Chauhan “For him, the constitution contains only the legal skeleton, but the flesh is what he calls constitutional morality. Noted academic Pratap Bhanu Mehta sums up Babasaheb’s idea of constitutional morality as a state marked by self-restrain, respect for plurality.” Many of these aspects of our electoral process may be addressed straightway, if we consider and make the election drill more easy and affordable; some suggestions as a layman and a common citizen of Bharat may be:-

Monetary cap on expenditure to be incurred by the parties and candidates should be enforced strictly. The upper limit of expenditure for an MP may be Rs.50 lakh by the Party and Rs. 50 lakh by the candidate and for MLA – Rs. 25 lakh by the Party and 25 lakh by the candidate. Only a fixed number of vehicles may be deployed with the approval of election authorities. No expenditure on hospitality – lunches/dinners/tea/coffee/snacks etc may be admitted. No expenditure on mass transport may be admitted. It is expected that the party workers and the supporters of a candidate should offer their services voluntarily without any monetary involvement and compensation. All donations of Rs.10 thousand and more to political parties and candidates should be made public and accounted for by the donors and the recipients.

Muscle power should be controlled and dealt with by the local law and order authorities under the guidance and advice of the ECI. The senior IAS/IPS/State Police officers should be held responsible for this aspect of the elections.

Election campaign should be a regulated and controlled affair. Only a limited and fixed number of large public rallies at pre-fixed venues in the constituency for limited hours should be permitted. Only a fixed number of corner meetings at fixed venues for fixed hours should be allowed. No road shows and use of laud-speakers on the road for canvassing should be permitted.  There should be more emphasis on canvassing campaign through the print and electronic media including social media. There should be no paid news/paid advertisements in the media by the candidates, it could be resorted to only by the parties. No fixed bills (Ishtihars), other than hoardings at fixed sites, should be permitted.

The election campaign may be limited to only 15 days from the date of withdrawal of nominations.

ECI may undertake a special drive to generate awareness among the public about the moral values and constitutional morality, two much needed ingredients in the election process in a democracy.

One may observe that the listed suggestions are just simple and basic. These may not require any big change or amendment in the existing laws and legal framework. Most of these cursory steps could be done by executive orders and decisions either by the ECI or the administration. But these small steps would a long way in transforming our electoral; process to further strengthen our democratic polity – from a noisy and dust-raising one to a functional and productive one. With this, kindly allow me to invoke Babasaheb Ambedkar again. While speaking on the qualifications of MPs/MLAs, he said, “If I may use the words of Buddha, he said that man requires two things – one is ‘Gyan’ and the other is ‘Sheel’. Gyan without Sheel is very dangerous. It must be accompanied by Sheel by which I mean character, moral courage and ability to be independent of any kind of temptations and truthful to ones ideals. I am keen to see that no member enters this august assembly who does not possess Sheel in an adequate degree”.

We are to go a long way to transform our political democracy into social and economic democracy. Free and fair elections are the first step towards that destination. We need to be on rails.