The Hindu Business Line : Electoral dataspeak

Reforms that make sense and which find support with the parties are those that count. Fundamental reforms too should be aired, discussed and acted upon.

The Representation of the People Act, 1951 provides for any association or body of individual citizens of India calling itself a political party to apply to the Election Commission for its registration. Thus, we have the various registered political parties.

All registered parties, however, are not `recognised'. To be a recognised political party in a State, a few criteria have to be fulfilled: The party should have been active politically for a continuous period of five years and returned at the last election, either at least one member to the Lok Sabha for every 25 members from that State or one member to the Legislative Assembly of that State for every 30 members of that Assembly.

An alternative criterion for recognition is for the party to get not less than six per cent of the total number of valid votes polled by all the contesting candidates at such a general election in the State. If a political party is treated as a recognised party in four or more States, it is then a national party.

Parties Galore

It may seem easy to become a recognised state/national party; not quite. The wheel of fortune does not seem to favour many, especially with regard to obtaining the status of a national party. Few of the State parties have worked their way up to qualify as national parties.

The Election Commission's Statistical Report on General Elections 2004 to the 14th Lok Sabha lists only six national parties as against 36 State parties and, more important, 173 registered (unrecognised) parties. It should be pointed out, however, that in the Lok Sabha election, not even one recognised state party could garner 5 per cent of the total national vote (Table 1)Table 1 also shows some interesting trends. The assassination of Indira Gandhi led to the highest ever 49 per cent of total vote to the Indian National Congress (INC), led by her son, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1984. The transitory phenomenon ended dramatically by 1989 and the trends have begun to reinforce the dwindling fortunes of the Congress and the promising, but stagnating, luck of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The fall of the Congress and the rise of the BJP are at least in part attributable to the global decline of socialist ideologies along with the rise of a two-pronged strategy for delivering development to the masses — market discipline for producing goods and services combined with state instrumentalities to deliver some `welfare' to those who are unable to help themselves and take a piece of the growing cake.

The question then arises if, in course of time, all the smaller parties would align with either the Congress or the BJP and, thus, usher in a virtual two-party system. The answer would have been a yes if only the local leaders had no objection to be workers and not leaders. The so-called inevitability of coalitions is but a reflection of dividing, not to rule, as for becoming a ruler albeit for a short while.

Independents and the unrecognised

A look at the composition of contesting candidates in 2004: Twenty-five per cent from national parties; 15 per cent from State parties; 16 per cent from unrecognised parties and a whopping 44 from Independents.

It is startling that Independents and candidates from unrecognised parties still contest despite the near-certainty of their losing their deposits (Table 2). The observation suggests that reforms that could make sense and which could find support from the parties are those that count. First, independents could be disallowed from contesting.

One person with his or her manifesto is nothing short of making a mockery of elections, and, indirectly, the democracy.

Second, a time-frame should be imposed on the continuance of an unrecognised party. Elections are expensive in terms of public and private spending. Fewer rather than a large number of parties will go a long way in reducing both.

Disallowing independents and shortening the life of unrecognised parties will help national and State parties consolidate.

The remaining outfits will see the merit of further electoral reforms woven around a lot more decentralisation of authority and responsibility to the States.

Voter Turnout

With every election, the voter turnout has been almost invariant at close to or less than 60 per cent. In 2004, for instance, it was 58 per cent. Though a little more than half of the electorate is voting, it is a matter of serious concern that many do not care to vote. Is it too much to ask a citizen to vote, as a matter of fundamental and enforceable duty? To make it mandatory for every citizen to vote, it is necessary to complement such a measure with the convenience of voting from home or office via the Internet. There is enough IT talent to work out a foolproof system of voting, eventually with no booths.

End Note

Indians are proud of their freedom and the systems that safeguard it. If the systems are not audited and evaluated from time to time, inefficiencies could creep in and morbidity settling in. Innovations and improvements are as important for elections as any other productive activity. In July 2004, the Election Commission brought out a paper, `Proposed Electoral Reforms.' The 32-page document deals with 15 new and seven pending proposals, which need to be addressed. In addition, fundamental reforms too should be aired, discussed and acted upon.

(The author, formerly with the National University of Singapore and the World Bank, is Professor Emeritus, GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade, Visakhapatnam and Visiting Faculty, Sri Sathya Sai University, Prashanti Nilayam. He can be reached at bhanoji@gmail.com)

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