Democracy is people’s power and a way of governance represented by people through elections. During last sixty five years of its application in India, the people’s representatives to lok Sabha and State Assemblies in the largest democracy of the world have been experiencing huge non-representation of a large majority of voters and the rule of minority Government in terms of percentage of votes.
The recent 2014 election results both at the Centre and in a few States have forced many parties to seriously review the present electoral system and look for alternatives. The elections witness a huge amount of money being spent in campaigns to purchase votes and manage the elections with engagement of police and paramilitary forces.
It is evident that there is a huge disparity between the percentage of votes polled and seats secured by a party. There is no proportionality between the votes and the seats that a party gains.
The national parties like Congress (19.3 per cent) and BSP’s (4.1 per cent) voting percentage are not converted into seats in Parliament and Assemblies. The BJP with 31 per cent of the total polling got 282 seats which is 51.9 per cent of the total seats. The BJD in Odisha with1.7 per cent of the total votes of the total national polling got 20 seats in lok Sabha where as DMK of Tamil Nadu with the same percentage of votes has no seat.
BJD with 43.2 per cent of the votes in the State has occupied more than 80 per cent of the total seats in State Assembly. The parties like BSP, CPI and CPI(M) though have been getting votes in the State but not being represented in the Assembly proportionally. The BSP in Uttar Pradesh having 19.9 per cent of vote of the State total polling has failed to gain even a single seat in the Parliament and got very poor representation in the
State Assembly.
It was also in 2012 the Samajwadi party with 29 per cent votes took 55 per cent of the seats in the State Assembly but the BSP with 23 per cent of votes failed to get same proportion of seats.
JM lyngdoh, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, during his tenure observed that there are candidates who win with less than 25 per cent of the votes polled in a contest of 50 per cent polling as is usual. Virtually 75 per cent of the electorate is unrepresented. Media reports reveal that most of the candidates use all the unfair means to get votes in a cutthroat competition in spite of legal restrictions and monitoring by the Election Commission over the use of money, muscle, caste and religious devises to mobilise votes in a multi cultural and caste divided society like India.
It is exhibited that the priority for parties is to gain elections, not the issues of the people of the country. Many of the small parties and minority parties are being marginalised without being represented in governance in spite of their mass base and votes.
As per the Election Commission sources, there are about 464 political parties in the country and 34 political parties in Odisha have contested the 2014 general elections. But the diversity has not been reflected in the Government.
The parties include six national parties, three State parties and 419 unrecognised parties. As alternative to first past the post (FPTP) there has been proposal by many for Proportional Representation (PR) system for India.
This system is already in practice in electing Rajya Sabha members, President and Vice President of India. Historically, it was Kazi Syed Karimuddim and Mahboob Ali Beigh Bahadur of the Indian Muslim league who argued for proportional representation system for India in the constituent Assembly though the proposal was not accepted by Dr BR Ambedker on the ground of presence of a large number of illiterate voters in those days with only 15 per cent
literacy rate.
later on in 1955 Dr Ambedker suggested for PR system as best suitable alternative to separate electorate for Dalits as reparation to Poona Pact of 1932.
Jawaharlal Nehru also had asserted for PR as suitable for India. later, Jayaprakash Narayan in 1974 appointed Justice Tarkunde Committee to look into electoral reforms and PR system was recommended by him for the country by then. Further, Indrajeet Gupta Committee report in the Parliament and in 1999 the National law Commission of India had made a review of the electoral system of the country and suggested PR system
for India.
There are a number of political parties like CPI, CPI (M), DMK, Siromani Akali Dal(SAD), Samajwadi Jana Parisad and civil society campaigns such as Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India (CERI) led by scholar activist MC Raj who did extensive research on electoral systems and wrote a book on it prescribing PR for India and advocating PR system in India.
It has been suggested for Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) representation system with thirty and seventy percentage of seats division between FPTP and PR
for India.
It has been further argued that PR system will not allow wastage of votes, resolve corruption and violence and lead to inclusive governance with representation of all sections of people including Dalit, Adivasi, minorities and women of the country who are not being adequately represented in our governance in spite of coalition politics.
The Muslims of the country who represent about 15 per cent of the total population have only 22 members in the Parliament. Similarly women have very marginal representation in the Parliament though many of the women are holding key visible positions in governance and parties as office bearers.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have representation due to reservation in the lok Sabha and the State Assemblies but it is true that they are more representatives of their party than of
their communities.
Many of the seats meant for SCs are grabbed by communities that do not belong to the untouchable category but included in the Scheduled Caste list in the State. The Dalit votes get divided and Dalits parties have very limited chance to win in the reserved seats of the country.
The Adivasis also are not able to represent their community in the absence of political parties of their own. As a result, SC and ST representatives are simply co-opted and accommodated by the mainstream political parties bettering the interest of their parties.
Therefore, many minority, Dalit, Adivasi and women see a hope of qualitatively better representation in the PR system. There are examples of Sami Parliament in Norway for indigenous ‘Sami’ people and ‘Maoris’ in New Zealand have separate electorate that recognises the presence of indigenous communities in their national governance.
In India we have only provisions of fifth and sixth schedule areas but no special arrangement in the Parliament and the State Assemblies for Adivasis. Electoral system experts reveal that out of 211 democratically governed countries in the world, 89 have adopted PR and many others are in the process as this system has inclusiveness in the era of globalisation. The PR system in many countries has been instrumental in improving quality of governance and reduction of corruption by involving its citizens in decision making process.
As political parties have to play a major role in the PR system, the internal party democracy and State funding in elections can be ensured in the electoral process to achieve larger political accountability of parties and avoid family rule and monopoly of individuals.
When each vote does not go waste, the interest in voting will be increased among the voters in the PR system. In order to bring change in the electoral system of the country, suitable amendments in the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951 and approval of the Parliament are required.
Political parties, academics, civil society groups, people’s movements striving for a democratic India need to think over it seriously. The governance system of the country needs to be democratised and inclusive to ensure political rights, as human rights to all its citizens without which socio-economic development will not be possible.
Article 21 of UDHR says everyone has the right to take part in the Government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of Government and shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
(The writer is rights activist, who can be reached at ojaabbsr@gmail.com)