ELECTORAL REFORMS

ELECTORAL REFORMS.

Prof. B. M. Hegde,
Vice Chancellor,
MAHE University,
Manipal-576 119.

Many of us, the so called intellectuals, keep away from electoral politics thinking that we are doing the right thing in that direction. Do we have any duty and responsibility to our motherland? If we do, we are failing in our duty by following this ostrich like policy. While there is a saying that “ politics is the last resort of a scoundrel ”, it also is true that if we have bad people in politics today, it is mainly because the so-called "good" people keep away from politics. We get the government that we deserve, at the end of the day.

What is a democracy? In a true democracy the power must rest with the common man. In the western model of democracy that we have inherited from the British the power really rests in the hands of those who know how to get elected. Consequently money power, muscle power, and some times even crooked brain power run these democracies. American President has to depend on money to get elected, not to speak of lesser mortals. This is the reality. But we would want to believe that the common man has the power of the vote. He does, provided no one uses force (in any sense of the word) to make him vote the way they want him to. In essence, therefore, we only have democracy in absentia; but do have a plutocracy in truth. Plutocracy is rule by force (power of the types described above). No wonder we suffer because of the successive governments that we had since independence.

India had a hoary past and we have had systems of governance which no one else had anywhere in the world. The rules of good governance that we inherited from our ancient times would have ushered in an egalitarian society where the lowest of the low could have lived a comfortable life.

There is no dearth of natural resources in India, neither is there dearth of man power. We, in fact, have a surfeit of manpower. The latter is underutilized or not utilized at all. Since we do not have any individual commitment to our land, most of us only have our personal agendas to look after and consequently the nation remains poor still. The common man, in addition, finds pleasure in procreating at random that our reproduction rate has overtaken our production rate years ago and keeps doing that even today, although we have had very impressive growth in our production rate over the years.

Kleptocracy :

We really do not have a democracy in our country in the true sense of the term. What we have, or for that matter any other country with a western type of democracy has, is only a notional democracy. The powerful people run the state. A better word for this kind of government would be a kleptocracy. This is a very interesting word originating from the Greek root Kleptein, which conveys the literal meaning of thieving. The real connotation is that the government is run by people who are greedy and down right corrupt. The second part of the word ocracy derived from the French word cratie, but is based on the Greek word kratos meaning strength or power. The powers that be today therefore use force or power of any available kind because of their greed. Kleptocracy, therefore, would be a better word for our system.

We in India have had a hoary past of values for good governance. Our constitution makers could have derived their inspiration from those sources. Unfortunately, their western educational background with the blind faith that anything western should be good mostly influenced them. This holds good even in other walks of life!

A recent example would suffice. Amarthya Sen has been doing excellent work in the field of economics for a long time now. His work is very relevant to our setting in, addition. Did we ever think of even giving him a Padma Shree, leave alone other honours? No sooner the Nobel committee spotted him we were in a great hurry to bend over backwards to bestow the highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna on him. This speaks volumes about our intellectual slavery to the western thought. Congratulations Amarthya! You have retained your Indian citizenship, and are proud to be called Indian. Some of Amarthya Sen’s predecessors have changed even their nationality after getting the Nobel!

While it is true that we have learnt a lot from the West I was amazed by the reference in a book written in 1852 by a Greek author, E. Pococke who had built “The temple of History” of Greece. He clearly showed the external evidence of an “ Indian colonization of Greece and proved that different groups migrated to Greece from India and they were responsible in principle for forming the ancient Greek civilization.” Although the western scholarship led their historians to Sumeria from Greece, the scholars did not know who the Sumerians were and where did they come from? Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975), in his celebrated book: A Study of History published in 1976 has this to say about their scholarship: “ In drawing up of any list of civilizations that is intended to be canonical, the application of a model as a test of eligibility can not be completely objective, and therefore can not be indisputable. There is bound to be an element of subjectivity, and therefore arbitrariness, which it will be impossible to eliminate.” In the same book he puts Indus civilization around 2500 BC

So far so good. The ravages of the present electoral system are there for all to see. The country has to bear the burden of thousands of crores of rupees almost every few months for elections as the shaky coalition governments get pulled down by the corrupt unscrupulous politicians at the drop of a hat. The Prime Minister, howsoever good he might be, has to bow down to the wishes of the so-called majority. This concept is self-defeating as any good idea could be shot down by the might of majority against the dictates of a clear conscience. Wise counsel shall never prevail.

Be that as it may, what of the future? Are we to go on moaning and continue with this corrupt system of elections where even a child could not be fooled by the rules and regulations of the game? Could any one believe that our candidates spend only the allotted amount of money? Does any one, even in his wildest dreams think that the inducements given to the gullible voter are non-existent? Is it not true that alcohol, money, clothes, gifts, false assurances etc. is used to lure the voters? All this is done under the very nose of the protectors of the law of the land and in broad daylight. Is it a secret that even the criminals and thugs are used to force the poor people to vote for a particular candidate? Booth capturing and rigging is not an exception but in many places that is the rule. Bootleggers and anti-social elements have a hay day during the election times, which comes far too frequently these days. Hardly the dust is allowed to die down before the next round of electioneering. Many a time the indelible ink mark is still there from the previous elections when one goes to vote again!

Treatment strategies :

Having thus defined the illness let us plan an effective treatment plans. This could be discussed under two heads: viz. long term and short term.

Long Term Measures :

These would be based on proper education of the future voters, the present day children who should be given the joys of co-operation, love and camaraderie in life during their primary education itself. As the common saying goes it is possible to convert the non-converts! Every child whether he becomes a doctor, engineer, teacher, lawyer, stone cutter, mason, nurse, house wife, company executive, accountant, officer, civil servant, or for that matter anyone in life, he/she should be energized by the thought that he/she is a citizen of this free country where the work that they do has a tremendous human and national value. This is the true education that we should impart to our future leaders who would build a truly free and fair egalitarian society.

Acute Measures of Treatment :

Urgent electoral reformers are called for lest we should sink further down into this bottomless pit of corruption and disgrace.

Once elected two-thirds majority could only bring down the government.
The Prime Minister, once elected, should be allowed to have a full term. He should have the freedom to select his team of Ministers from among the best brains in the country. Every Minister must go through public scrutiny before being sworn in.
No office of profit in the Government could be held for more than two full terms of five years each; this should apply to legislatures also.
Only ten per cent of the elected representatives could be Ministers in any Government. If they are selected from outside the house they should be inducted into the upper house without another farce of an election.
No one should be allowed to contest simultaneously from more than one constituency.
Known criminals, economic offenders, convicted criminals, anti-social elements including former criminals released from jail, bootleggers, thugs, pseudo-secularists trying to misuse the minority votes, and all shady characters must be disqualified to contest.
Every one including the Prime Minister and the Judges should come under the umbrella of the special vigilance laws.
No one should be allowed to be a Minister after two terms.
If there is a prima facie case of any offence against an individual, the person should be debarred from contesting until the judiciary clears him of the offence within a fixed time frame of say, one year.
Only canvassing through print and electronic media should be permitted. Every candidate must have an equal amount of media exposure for month proceeding the poll date.
All other kinds of anti-social canvassing should be banned.
Watch dog bodies of authentic citizens should be formed in every constituency.
Minimum qualifications should be prescribed for every candidate. Viz.
He/she should be between 25 and 70 years.
State funding is in order for electioneering in places where neither the electronic media nor the print media does reach. The amount could be based on the percentage votes polled by the party in the previous election.
The electorate should have the right to recall any legislator should he indulge in anti-social or corrupt practices through a referendum for the said purpose.
He should have had no criminal record in the past.
He should have studied up to the school final grade at least.
He should be a born Indian.

There is an urgent need to reform the electoral system for the latter to settle down before the next general elections, hopefully after five years. If need be there could even be constitutional reforms to put the electoral reforms in place. We have been having futile debates in the country whether we should have the American Presidential system or go on with the British system; never have I seen any of our "great" intellectuals thinking of having an original Indian system culled from our hoary past, based on Indian Culture and Indian ethos. The latter is based on two important pillars; Truth and Ethics.

Sathyam, Brihad ritam Ugram……
Vishwam Dharayaanthi…………….

Rg Veda.
(This world could only be sustained on truth and strict ethics applied sternly in society)

What a laudable idea? Some times I get a strange feeling, a sort of de ja vu, that my thinking may not be normal! I have not been able to get many people around me thinking alike. Most of them think that these ideals are not for day today living but they are for an esoteric life, impossibility. I still think that they are wrong. If only we could give the right kind of education to our future generation and let them see the light at the end of the tunnel we, could bring in social transformation. The joy of doing the right thing and saying the right thing is something that has to be experienced to be understood. It gives supreme bliss. It would take time and one must have patience. Hope for the best. Man lives on hope, anyway.