In India, there is little political justice in elections, be it the Assembly, the Parliament or any other. The level of political justice gets thinner and thinner when members are elected to the Rajya Sabha. Again the elected members of Vidhan Sabhas, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are going to elect on the President of India on July 18.
In would like give an instance from my personal experience. As a student and teacher of Political Science, I have seen and examined many electoral fights. In smaller localities such as in a small panchayat or in a colony in an urban area the electoral fight among the house owners can provide stunning results.
The Dharma Vihar Community Welfare Association (DVCWA), located near Khandagiri Hills and close by Jagamara Bazar of Bhubaneswar is an association of the allottees of HIG Duplex Houses. The association has been there since 1993-94. Out of nearly 238 allotees, now DVCWA has 166 bonafide members in the form of patrons or as life members.
A total of 86 members out of the total electorate of 166 voted in the presidential election of the DVCWA for the 2-year term. The election was held on June 12.
There were three contestants, including me. Because of my engagements in some important works, I coun’t devote much time for campaigning and the result was there for all to see.
I was Candidate No. 1. I got only 1 vote. This vote was cast by me!
The No.2 candidate polled 49 votes. The rest of the votes went to the candidate No. 3. In concrete terms the 3rd candidate got 36 votes. During the election campaign period the voters got divided into two camps. The polarization was so deep and so stunning that my proposer and seconder-both of them-had to desert me. Indeed I was shocked beyond words. The second candidate who became victorious got more than 50% of the votes cast.
Coming back to political justice, I would say it has become all the more laughable and all the more detestable when members cast their votes for the President of India poll. The AAP polled 42% of the votes cast in the latest elections to the Punjab Legislative Assembly. Instead of getting 49 seats in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, the AAP got 92 seats; an excess of 43 seats. Similarly, in the election to the Lok Sabha in 2019, the BJP polled 37% of the votes cast. But instead of getting 200 seats, it captured 303 seats— an excess of 103 seats. The Congress polled 20% of votes. It should have got 108 seats. But it got only a paltry 54 seats. This injustice is deeply inherent in the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system of election.
Time has come, we must give up this unfair system of election or political justice will elude us for all time to come.
Parties like BJD, TMC, AAP and TRS are getting over-represented respectively in States like Odisha, West Bengal, Delhi, Punjab and Telengana. These over-represented parties capture almost all the Rajya Sabha seats meant for their States. For example, Odisha has 10 seats in the Rajya Sabha. All these seats have come to BJD even though it has polled only 42% of votes in the 2019 Vidhan Sabha Election. In bigger constituencies involving lakhs of voters “pollarisation” do not happen as it happened in the presidential election for the DVCWA.