Recently, panchayat elections were held in Odisha. We cherished the festival of democracy. People cast their votes and exercised their democratic rights. Often, a general question arises that whether election is all about democracy. Of course the answer to this question is very tough.
It is intertwined. We cannot even think of democracy without election. That is why we regard election as the only and apt instrument of democracy.
There is another section of opinions on the election process. It says many autocratic and communism countries also adopt the election as a process to run the Government. Usually elected representatives in non-democratic countries also get 98 per cent of votes. So we may consider this type of election as a fake election.
We understand that election is the key to democracy. The pandemic has seen many elections in democratic countries. But a report, The Global State Democracy Report -21 - Building Resilience in a Pandemic Era, raises the question on electoral integrity.
Further, it says democratic countries had adopted authoritarian tactics in election and these tactics were enjoyed and backed by populist support. The Global State Democracy Report -21 - Building Resilience in a Pandemic Era indices further reveal that there are only eight countries in the world who do good in clean elections.
India is one of them. As far as only democratic countries are concerned there are 10 democracies that see a sharp decline in clean elections.
During this Panachayt election in Odisha some media houses doubt the electoral sanctity. Further they have argued that bureaucratic power, money and muscles power have been over utilised to lure the rural voters in Odisha. Don’t you think that it is a mockery to our voting rights and a satire to democracy?
Corrupt practice in democracy is a threat to the democratisation process. Apart from bureaucratic power, money and muscles power, there are some other patterns to subjugate the election process such as bribing the polling officers and agents, booth capturing, recruiting too many election agents etc.
Unfortunately this Pancahyat election, Odisha has seen much political violence.
There is a report which indicates a dark side of election and it's related to political violence. It says causalities in political violence in India are more than terrorist attack. It means people die more in number in political violence.
The report adds that starting from Gram Pancayat election to general election, political violence is all time high. There are many forms of political violence such as homicide, genocide, caste, class and community based conflict, human rights violation and gender discriminations.
It is alleged that president of Côte d’Ivoire won the election only by instigating violence.
So question arises why do people kill or harm each other. Are they rationally fool or culturally doped? Many sociologists say that people take bad decisions because of bad information. Bad information is fake news. In many other cases people in same locality do not consider the victims as individuals but as members of opposing groups and focus only on the differences.
In Cote d’Ivoire opposition leaders were arrested in 2020 for spreading fake news ahead of elections. Even political violence can be a result of political supremacy and it is a predetermined reaction to the current political environmental signs. It is reported that political violence during three-tier Panchayat elections in Odisha has not delimited itself in political rivalries but it has seen the attack on reporters, police, Government officials and polling personnel. Both in 2012 and 2017 Panchayat polls, BJD had done well.
The performance of ruling party was just a Dresden China Perfection. Yes those elections were less violent than 2022 polls. It is alleged this election is involved with high monetary flows. Electoral outcomes are always in controversy. It is a global phenomenon. In 2020–2021 when former President Donald Trump questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election results in the United States, sadly it landed in the infamous US Capitol building riot.
Election is a part of political process in democracy. Election is the base of any democracy. If election is tainted then democracy becomes impure.
Many democratic countries have adopted democratic innovation in election during pandemic such as alternative voting arrangements, early voting and mobile ballot box voting.
If elections are not sufficient to establish a good democracy then what is the alternative to election? The answer is participatory democracy.
Participatory democracy or participative democracy is a model of democracy in which citizens are provided power to make political decisions. In “Democratic Innovations” scholars like Graham Smith have depicted some mechanisms of participatory democratic systems such as use of referendums, where citizens vote on laws and/or constitutional amendments and a creation of deliberative citizens' assemblies; a representative sample of the population to advise legislative bodies or to write laws themselves. These solutions are designed to emphasize decision-making powers among people. It empowers people directly to participate in politics.
Honestly, these mechanisms are very hard to practice in democracy. We cannot measure the mentality of crowd. Germany’s Green party was promoting participatory democracy and opposing elections. Surprisingly, now this party is participating in election with other political parties in Germany.
I personally consider election as the best tool and weapon for democracy. Election is a sacred medium. And whatever the lacunas or loopholes we see in election, they are a result of both methodological and personal faults.
(Dr Parida is an Assistant Professor in Sociology. email id – abash.parida@gmail.com)