Anna Hazare fasted for a noble cause and he has won the first round of the battle; there are many rounds before he and the Indians can reach the logical finals to win the mother of all battles. Can Electoral Reforms bring in a semblance of correcting our decaying system? Can we have good governance with transparency and accountability in political, administrative and judicial departments of our Government?
Now that euphoria has set in for ensuring India’s second independence and there is a sincere upswing in the moods of the people, particularly the young ones, for a better society, as Presiding Officer who has assisted the Election Commission of India in the conduct of elections and having seen the pains and pangs of voters who could not vote because their names were not found in the ‘Mother of All Frauds – the Electoral List’, I feel that it is time to include in our future Agenda the immediate necessity for hastening electoral reforms.
Government of India (UPA-2) is introducing reforms in the fields of education, economy, judiciary, employment, poverty alleviation and to give an Unique ID number to all Indian citizens etc. These reforms augur well in projecting India as the greatest living democracy in the world with a firm base of economic resonance. But what should have been the first priority of UPA-2 – THE ELECTORAL REFORMS – appear to have been pushed to the backburner in its parliamentary affairs.
Every time the subject matter of Electoral Reforms is brought forward, majority of the political parties and the hidden forces (lobbies) have adopted a blow hot blow cold attitude. Such lackadaisical approach or escape mechanism is resulting in unbridled criminalisation of politics; decay in body politic etc. People are loosing faith in governance because of failure of systems, checks and balances to control corruption with resultant untold sufferings to the common man. The overnight support by people from all over India is clear indication of this despondency.
There is no free lunch in this world and not everybody enters politics just to serve the poor and the needy. Many have declared that they have become crorepathis after they were elected and even in a small State like Arunachal Pradesh, out of 151 candidates, there were 60 crorepathis and in Maharashtra, apart from crorepathis, there were a record number of criminals who had entered the fray.
It is 63 years since independence and it is time to bring in a semblance of online course correction for arresting the systemic decay and for ensuring good governance for erasing the dubious distinction of India being governed by a flawed democracy.
Why there is avoidable delay in ushering in the much sought after electoral Reforms? Who is holding up the suggestions made by well known political analysts like Mr.L.C.Jain and Chief Election Commissioners and a host of other luminaries?
All of us must become proactive, ensure participatory democracy and insist with one voice to bring in legislations for amending the terms, conditions, acts, rules, codes, to the Peoples Representation Act and Constitutional provisions etc., for a transparent and accountable governance, political system. India needs to enact Electoral Reforms without further delay.
The following suggestions appear to be relevant towards making electoral reforms:
(1) Start the process: Set up an All Party Electoral Reforms Committee and involve all those who matter. Let there be political and public debates to enact Electoral Reforms. Election Commission and others have forwarded enough recommendations to the Government of India and those files are buried in the ghettos of Parliament; they need to be reopened.
(2) Eligibility of persons: Committee to recommend Amendments to the relevant rules under Peoples Representation Act, Election Rules, Constitution of India and all other relevant bylaws, codes and provisions pertaining to eligibility of persons for contesting elections;
(3) Minimum literacy: Prescribe a minimum educational qualification
(4) Maximum age: Maximum age fixation has become imperative due to certain developments that are plaguing the political system in India; People who cannot move around are holding on to the reigns of power as if it is their right and their input has been found to be minimal in terms of achievements in parliamentary participation.
(4) Bar criminals: No person with criminal background (FIR filed or sentenced or convicted) should be allowed to contest (this is a debatable point but must be sorted out with utmost expediency from the judicial point of view);
(5) Compulsory voting: Make voting compulsory – Recently Mr.Narendra Modi’s government in Gujarat has proposed to make voting compulsory in all local body elections and has proposed some deterrent action for those who willfully avoid voting, although voting is optional at present. This proposal cannot be dismissed as something that cannot be implemented under the present Central laws or legally enforceable. It is being commented that it violates a person’s right to exercise his franchise and it is his will and wish whether to vote or not. Such problems can be overcome and even levy of some kind of fine on those who willfully avoid voting with the syndrome ‘my one vote does not count and it cannot correct the decaying system’.
(6) Incentive for voting: Another possibility for making the people to make them get up and go and vote is by giving some incentive – say two per percent rebate in electricity/ water bill for a limited period, say for two months.
(7) ‘None-of-the-above’: Existing election provisions pertaining to ‘None of the above’ and ‘Recall’ options need re-examination for making the process/procedures simpler. The demand for provision of an option ‘none of the above’ provision in the ballet paper has run into controversies and one version is that if this option itself gets a majority, will there be a re-poll and can we afford such costly experiments.
(8) Recall option: Another option of ‘Recall of an elected representative’ appears to be a better step towards ensuring transparency and accountability. It will enable the electorate to recall an elected representative, if he fails to come up to the expectations of the electorate but has managed to become a slumdog millionaire within one year, whether he should be given the option of stepping down voluntarily by surrendering the excess wealth he has accumulated during the period he held the office of profit for his own ‘political and economical upliftment’ or by being recalled through simple process by the voters of his constituency has to be discussed through public debate.
(9) Increasing voting percentage: Voting percentage is hovering around 45 and 57 per cent during the last 14 Lok Sabha elections; huge amounts are being spent to create facilities for people to vote. Presently, citizens are experiencing delays and difficulties in getting their names included in the electoral rolls and to obtain Voter ID cards; the list of eligible voters prepared contains unpardonable mistakes and the list itself has been dubbed as ‘The Mother of All Frauds’ by the media;
(10) U I D and Voting: Can India’s Unique Identification (UID) experience help people to get up and go and vote? UID Numbers are being allotted to India’s 1.2 billion citizens; more than 700 million are above the age of 18 years and are eligible to vote. UID has thrown up a wonderful opportunity for creating better voting percentage. Election Commission of India (ECI) and UIDAI can convert this opportunity into making voting hassle free for the citizens. How? Holders of UID numbers may be given the opportunity to vote from “where they are” with the help of Information Technology enabled internet based Kiosks that can be set up in all corners of India and in select places all over the world where there are sizeable NRIs. Proper physical and technologically enabled safety and security measures for data protection, like, built in firewalls, private key and public key facility can be ensured by UID authorities; ECI can help the voter to key in his UID number, access the list of contestants of his electoral booth based on his residential proof through UID and enable the voter to vote with the help of technology based solution. Most urbanites are tech-savvy and can vote from their work place or through kiosks set up specially.
(11) We must also examine the latest experiment being tried in United Kingdom with ALTERNATIVE VOTING – scheduled for next month voting experiment. Even though it is said to be a little time consuming, it is being recommended as the next best bold experiment being tried in the ensuing British elections – April 2011.
. There is nothing impossible and progressive thinking Election Commission of India can think in terms of creating a futuristic ambience for good governance with majority voters rule with the help of technology. This will ensure IT reach to the grassroots level with the help of Technocrats like Nandan Nilekani and Sam Pitroda and for helping the country to score more brownies in the eyes of the world.
Present day young and eligible voters appear to be disgusted and disillusioned with the flawed democracy and the rampant corruption being practiced by all those in power. Anna Hazaare has fired up their imaginationThey want a change and there is a wave of awareness. If they want a clean management/ government system, they must evince more interest in the democratic way of governance and by giving up making cynical remarks and by just being arm-chair analyzers. They must indulge themselves in participatory democracy. Their yearning for a change for a coherent, corruption-less and better system of governance in the country must find its way into the public life by being the change they want to see; They should not get disenchanted with the archaic poll norms and abstain from taking active part in the process of nation building.
Apathy of voters has resulted in minority voters rule and is not the right way to ensure a democratically elected government. It creates a paradoxical scenario of ‘first past the post’ or a hung verdict. This results in criminals in jails and all those who have been branded as anti-social elements to get elected as MPs/Legislators/Corporators/ZP chiefs. Such people with low morality are winning elections with muscle and money power and those unscrupulous elected representatives are indulging in hop, skip or jump, horse trade, enter into unholy alliances or compromise themselves for ‘living together’ and become victims of various kinds of ‘operations’ for the sake of sticking to power.
For correcting all these ills of democracy, for instilling confidence in the minds of people and to prove that UPA-2 means business with regard to creating a better governed India, Yes UPA-2 can bring in Electoral Reforms now and also help the common man’s dream of having better governance bereft of corrupt practices that are destroying India’s credibility as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
It is now or never for the present Government to earn the good will of the people, showcase its will power to prove that it has the ability to herald bold electoral reforms for ensuring transparency and accountability. People are sick of the way they are being taken for a ride with every election by self-centered and power hungry leaders. Youngsters are waiting in the wings and would like to lead the country forward but for constraints.
Yes India can cure its AIDS (Alarmingly Infected Democratic System) with the help of its democratic doctors – the Voters and through Electoral Reforms. Yes We Can.
