Even as people lose faith in the system, the political class has no motivation to change it because it’s the biggest beneficiary
The election season has made clear that the political class does not want cleaner elections. But it needs to wake up to the fact that the people no longer have faith in it or even in the system. Vexed with non-governance, corruption, price rise and inflation, the people believe that they have had enough. There are huge concerns about the chinks in the electoral system. It is not as if other countries do not have these problems. But it is a far more sophisticated form of corruption that takes place abroad. In the US, corporates make contributions through special interest groups. They use ‘soft money’, in the form on fund-raising dinners, for instance, to influence and change policies.
India has been a functioning democracy where power has smoothly changed hands 15 times. Almost all political parties have ruled the country either on their own or as part of a coalition. What is worrying now is the splintering of the polity. Gone are the days of one-party rule; coalition politics is here to stay. Cleansing the electoral system is the most important route through which corruption and maladministration can be curbed. This calls for urgent electoral reforms along with fundamental governance reforms to enhance people’s empowerment and participation.
Nearly a third of Indian MPs face criminal charges. There are more than 500 criminal cases against these lawmakers, hailing from across the political spectrum. But how did criminals come to dominate politics in the first placeIJ There is a vicious circle wherein political parties claim that it is the voters who elect them, whereas the voters claimed that in the absence of ‘none of the above’ option, they had little choice.
All parties notionally agree that people with criminal records should not contest elections but in practice they resist any attempts to enforce this. Are there fundamental flaws in our political systemIJ
People lose faith in the system because muscle and money power have taken over the democratic framework. No one can say that our Parliament and political parties have not had enough time to act. It is no coincidence that the comprehensive electoral reforms Bill has been pending before Parliament for two decades. If Parliament refuses to act on matters relating to the ethics and rectitude of its own functioning, what recourse do the citizens haveIJ That is why people go to courts — and initiatives taken by the Supreme Court have, therefore, considerable public support.
Candidates, by and large, hide campaign expenses. During the 2009 general election, nearly all of the 6,753 candidates declared that they had spent between 45 per cent and 55 per cent of their expense limit. Excessive, illegal and illegitimate expenditure during elections is the root cause of corruption. Therefore, parties have tried to cope with this by favouring candidates with black money and powerful networks. Such candidates, whose political foundations are built on law-breaking, typically hijack the system for private profiteering.
Also, voter fatigue is setting in slowly. Mahatma Gandhi once said: “You should be the change you wish to see in this world”. We sometimes blame others for voting for the wrong candidates but forget that we do not bother to go to the polling booth ourselves. Since 1990, there have been at least seven hefty comprehensive Government-commissioned reports on electoral reforms. They prove that there is an overwhelming consensus about electoral reforms. Why have successive Governments sat on them for more than two decadesIJ
There seems to be great reluctance on the part of the political system towards any attempt at reform. The major concern is the mindset of the political establishment: They seem to believe that since they control the power of making laws, no laws can and should apply to them. They have no motivation to change the current system because they are its biggest beneficiaries.
‘Nota’ is just one among a series of efforts finally being made to restore power to the people in the current Assembly polls. The fact that it took more than 12 years to come into practice shows there must be something potent about it . Will the negative vote lead to cleaner politics in IndiaIJ Will it bring moral pressure upon political partiesIJ Cleaning the political arena requires reform of our electoral structures and the process needs to start now. This will also encourage honest and good candidates to enter politics.