Bihar elections- Democracy Demolished and Demonised

The Citizen's Right to Know
Electoral Reforms : Key to Effective Democracy
Jagdeep S. Chhokar
It needs to be reiterated that the judgement is not about disqualifying people from contesting elections, it is about disclosure of the criminal background of the candidates, if any.

India is often referred to it as a vibrant and vigorous democracy. This might well be justified compared to a large number of other countries that gained independence from colonial rule around the same time. There is however reason to be concerned about the health of our democracy and its future. Just because we have elections regularly, some might even say far too often, does not necessarily mean that we have an effective democracy. One view is that the kind of elections we have are the very anti-thesis of democracy. Following excerpts from a letter written to the editor of one of the newspapers in Ahmedabad on September 9, 1999 soon after the elections, testifies to this.

“Thank God! The vulgar cacophony, throwing of abuses and trading of charges by political parties with each other is over.

“All political parties have made narrow-minded, extremely bigoted ... statements against each other as if they were in the race to prove who was more conservative and backward and who would be the first to destroy this nation by such ideologies, as Taliban has done for Afghanistan!

“No wonder people showed fatigue and displayed lack of enthusiasm in the type of democratic exercise now repeatedly held to elect the begging candidates so that on being elected they can sit in power and loot us, and amass wealth and power for their dynasties.

“Their slogan seems to be, ‘Cast your vote in favour of one whom you want should amass wealth!’

“Are our aspirations being fulfilled, even minimum security of life and basic services like food, water, shelter being met by the system created?

“What democratic values these bunch of self-appointed leaders will propagate with such narrow-minded approaches. Our democracy ends the day we cast our vote.”

The Election Process
If democracy has anything to do with freedom – and freedom with responsibility – then the electoral system might well be the very heart of democracy. If this sounds like an over statement let me try and sketch briefly what all does the electoral system include. It determines who can or should be allowed to vote. When should electoral rolls be prepared, revised, and how? The formation, func-tioning including funding, etc. of political parties is also an integral part of the electoral system. Included also is the basic question, who can contest an election. Then comes the actual conduct of the election which is what is most associated with the electoral system. On what basis is the winner of the election decided is another key element of the electoral system. These are some of the pre-election and during election activities. There is a whole range of post election activities during which the outcome of the electoral process are managed, such as post election disputes, election petitions, formation of the government, and subsequent functioning of the government including issues such as defections. This illustrative list indicates the critical role of the electoral system in ensuring an effectively functioning democracy.
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