There are several facets to our electoral system and practices that are uniquely Indian. To begin with, no country before India had the election symbol, a necessity considering the huge number of illiterate voters. Despite literacy having gone up to roughly 70 per cent, parties are still referred to by their symbols more than their official names in the countryside. For example BJP is the “phoolwali party” because its symbol is the lotus. Even after the electorate becomes fully literate a couple of decades down the line, it is unlikely that symbols will be abandoned. Arguably, in the US too, the main combatants have their respective mascots — elephant and donkey — but their likenesses do not appear on ballot papers against a candidate’s name.
Further, I doubt if any other democratic country has a stringent set of rules known as the code of conduct, administered strictly by a hawk-eyed regulatory authority, namely, the Election Commission. Although the EC was created as a statutory body to conduct elections at the very inception of democracy in 1950, it is only in recent decades that its role has become all-pervasive, with the Supreme Court stepping in periodically to empower it further in order to combat rampant malpractices.
One of the major fallouts of the attempt to curb electoral malpractice is the widespread recourse to freebies for voters. Admittedly, the burgeoning sops are not only due to the restrictions imposed on the pre-poll distribution of blankets, bicycles, sacks of grain and liquor bottles among voters, particularly the less privileged. In the past, when the category called BPL (Below Poverty Line) was not a statistically compiled, sarkari reality, agents of parties would grab rural bigwigs or mafia chieftains of urban slums to bulk purchase votes. Deals would be struck for cash payment to the don, while ceremonial distribution of various goodies to the poor were made either directly by the candidate after election meetings or late at night by his agents.
I recall observing agents of a political party going from hutment to hutment in a Dalit colony on the outskirts of Vijayawada on the eve of the 1993 Assembly poll in Andhra Pradesh, distributing blue coupons. Upon inquiry it transpired that the presentation of these coupons entitled the bearer to obtain two bottles of country liquor from the neighbourhood off-licence (theka). A party agent I interviewed roundly cursed then Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan, (the first occupant of that post to turn the EC into an object of fear), saying it was so much easier to bring bottles loaded in vans and personally hand them over to voters. “Nowadays we are followed by EC observers. Voters are so clever they sell these coupons and come back for more claiming the slips are lost. Horrible fellow, this Seshan!” he barked.
Once development became the principal mantra in elections in the early years of this century, and ‘bijli-sadak-pani’ the definitive game changer, parties were quick to adapt to the new realities. It is not that voter greed subsided; in fact, collective demands for better living conditions and enhanced opportunities came to coexist with individual expectations of aggrandisement. In Karnataka during the last Assembly election it was widely reported that voters, particularly in the mining boom areas in and around Bellary, openly demanded one “lal note” (Rs 1,000 note) per vote! This was in addition to whatever else the candidate promised for community development.
Fortunately, not all parts of the country have been subsumed by such open expression of venality. In eastern India, particularly my native State of West Bengal, elections are still fought more on ideological conviction than caste loyalty or money power. But then the Bengali’s disdain for economic progress, personal or societal, has led to the State’s current moribund condition. In the rest of India voters are scanning electoral pledges and examining delivery very closely. The astonishing result of the Bihar Assembly election last year shows that even the bastion of caste and religious compartmentalisation can be breached significantly if the state delivers on its promise of good governance.
However, simultaneously, a hybrid form of welfarism is creeping into governance, especially in the south. Other States, notably BJP-ruled Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, initiated wide-ranging schemes to directly assist economically less privileged sections with subsidised grain, educational scholarships and programmes for women’s empowerment. BJP States make direct cash transfers to BPL women for educating the girl child and provide for expenses to be incurred in marrying off daughters. Bicycles are handed out to school-going girls along with textbooks and uniforms. All this is in addition to subsidies for foodgrain and purchase of cattle. But the kind of rank consumerism promoted by parties in Tamil Nadu is unheard of in other parts of the country — at least yet.
Predictably, there have been many sniggers if not outright abuse by English-speaking political pundits of the competitive freebies offered by rival Dravidian parties for the forthcoming Tamil Nadu election. But the media has also grudgingly reported the success of the ruling DMK’s free colour TV scheme, saying that it could well be the ageing patriarch’s only hope of countering corruption charges and succession wars. Not to be outdone, Ms Jayalalithaa has offered more, such as laptops and four grams of gold to every woman on her wedding. This is in addition to subsidised rice, free electricity to farmers, free bus travel and a host of other handouts. For Tamil Nadu’s electorate, this is a win-win situation; either way they stand to gain hugely in terms of consumer items being delivered by the state to their doorstep.
Personally, I see nothing wrong in what Tamilian parties are trying to do, provided they find the money also to focus on infrastructure and tackle concerns about primary education, health, drinking water, irrigation, roads and other macro issues. But I suspect that the consumerist zeal being exhibited down south is a substitute for, rather than supplementary to, the basic duties of infrastructure development and good governance. Of course, it could also be that the people no longer seriously expect the Government to deliver on larger issues of governance. They have seen that despite good intentions and deployment of vast sums from the exchequer, schools still don’t have teachers and primary health centres rarely have doctors in attendance. An increasing number of urban and semi-urban poor, except for the bottom 10 per cent, somehow ensure their children get education in private schools and ailments are attended to in private medical institutions.
In other words, India is evolving a deviant model of the welfare state, one that caters to the consumer concerns of the underprivileged and makes them feel better about their miserable economic conditions. One can debunk this as escapist — a typically Bollywood solution to poverty. But then, India has a unique way of resolving social conflicts and contradictions. Who knows, if the Maoist influenced Dantewada tribal gets addicted to Ekta Kapoor’s offerings, he may well abandon the ‘cause’ and even turn on the peddlers of class enmity?
Source: The Pioneer
Further, I doubt if any other democratic country has a stringent set of rules known as the code of conduct, administered strictly by a hawk-eyed regulatory authority, namely, the Election Commission. Although the EC was created as a statutory body to conduct elections at the very inception of democracy in 1950, it is only in recent decades that its role has become all-pervasive, with the Supreme Court stepping in periodically to empower it further in order to combat rampant malpractices.
One of the major fallouts of the attempt to curb electoral malpractice is the widespread recourse to freebies for voters. Admittedly, the burgeoning sops are not only due to the restrictions imposed on the pre-poll distribution of blankets, bicycles, sacks of grain and liquor bottles among voters, particularly the less privileged. In the past, when the category called BPL (Below Poverty Line) was not a statistically compiled, sarkari reality, agents of parties would grab rural bigwigs or mafia chieftains of urban slums to bulk purchase votes. Deals would be struck for cash payment to the don, while ceremonial distribution of various goodies to the poor were made either directly by the candidate after election meetings or late at night by his agents.
I recall observing agents of a political party going from hutment to hutment in a Dalit colony on the outskirts of Vijayawada on the eve of the 1993 Assembly poll in Andhra Pradesh, distributing blue coupons. Upon inquiry it transpired that the presentation of these coupons entitled the bearer to obtain two bottles of country liquor from the neighbourhood off-licence (theka). A party agent I interviewed roundly cursed then Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan, (the first occupant of that post to turn the EC into an object of fear), saying it was so much easier to bring bottles loaded in vans and personally hand them over to voters. “Nowadays we are followed by EC observers. Voters are so clever they sell these coupons and come back for more claiming the slips are lost. Horrible fellow, this Seshan!” he barked.
Once development became the principal mantra in elections in the early years of this century, and ‘bijli-sadak-pani’ the definitive game changer, parties were quick to adapt to the new realities. It is not that voter greed subsided; in fact, collective demands for better living conditions and enhanced opportunities came to coexist with individual expectations of aggrandisement. In Karnataka during the last Assembly election it was widely reported that voters, particularly in the mining boom areas in and around Bellary, openly demanded one “lal note” (Rs 1,000 note) per vote! This was in addition to whatever else the candidate promised for community development.
Fortunately, not all parts of the country have been subsumed by such open expression of venality. In eastern India, particularly my native State of West Bengal, elections are still fought more on ideological conviction than caste loyalty or money power. But then the Bengali’s disdain for economic progress, personal or societal, has led to the State’s current moribund condition. In the rest of India voters are scanning electoral pledges and examining delivery very closely. The astonishing result of the Bihar Assembly election last year shows that even the bastion of caste and religious compartmentalisation can be breached significantly if the state delivers on its promise of good governance.
However, simultaneously, a hybrid form of welfarism is creeping into governance, especially in the south. Other States, notably BJP-ruled Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, initiated wide-ranging schemes to directly assist economically less privileged sections with subsidised grain, educational scholarships and programmes for women’s empowerment. BJP States make direct cash transfers to BPL women for educating the girl child and provide for expenses to be incurred in marrying off daughters. Bicycles are handed out to school-going girls along with textbooks and uniforms. All this is in addition to subsidies for foodgrain and purchase of cattle. But the kind of rank consumerism promoted by parties in Tamil Nadu is unheard of in other parts of the country — at least yet.
Predictably, there have been many sniggers if not outright abuse by English-speaking political pundits of the competitive freebies offered by rival Dravidian parties for the forthcoming Tamil Nadu election. But the media has also grudgingly reported the success of the ruling DMK’s free colour TV scheme, saying that it could well be the ageing patriarch’s only hope of countering corruption charges and succession wars. Not to be outdone, Ms Jayalalithaa has offered more, such as laptops and four grams of gold to every woman on her wedding. This is in addition to subsidised rice, free electricity to farmers, free bus travel and a host of other handouts. For Tamil Nadu’s electorate, this is a win-win situation; either way they stand to gain hugely in terms of consumer items being delivered by the state to their doorstep.
Personally, I see nothing wrong in what Tamilian parties are trying to do, provided they find the money also to focus on infrastructure and tackle concerns about primary education, health, drinking water, irrigation, roads and other macro issues. But I suspect that the consumerist zeal being exhibited down south is a substitute for, rather than supplementary to, the basic duties of infrastructure development and good governance. Of course, it could also be that the people no longer seriously expect the Government to deliver on larger issues of governance. They have seen that despite good intentions and deployment of vast sums from the exchequer, schools still don’t have teachers and primary health centres rarely have doctors in attendance. An increasing number of urban and semi-urban poor, except for the bottom 10 per cent, somehow ensure their children get education in private schools and ailments are attended to in private medical institutions.
In other words, India is evolving a deviant model of the welfare state, one that caters to the consumer concerns of the underprivileged and makes them feel better about their miserable economic conditions. One can debunk this as escapist — a typically Bollywood solution to poverty. But then, India has a unique way of resolving social conflicts and contradictions. Who knows, if the Maoist influenced Dantewada tribal gets addicted to Ekta Kapoor’s offerings, he may well abandon the ‘cause’ and even turn on the peddlers of class enmity?
Source: The Pioneer
