|
: There was an international poll recently to determine the seven greatest wonders from amongst the world’s built and natural heritage. Had the competition been enlarged to include other events, the Indian general elections would surely have figured in terms of sheer magnitude (about 730 million voters), diversity (more than all of North America and Europe put together) and organisational complexity at a time when several terrorist guns are being trained on different sections of the electorate and the electoral machinery. Its romance and drama was captured in a front page photograph in a national daily depicting a polling party fording a stream in Chhattisgarh, trousers rolled up and leading a pair of donkeys carrying electronic voting machines!
A large number of registered national and regional parties are in the contest in addition to many of the hundreds of unregistered parties in the country. Most seats are being contested by a large number of party and independent candidates though only two to four may be serious contenders. A few are spoilers and dummy candidates but most others wish to make a statement or prove a point.
Uniquely in the post-war, post-colonial world after 1947 India, as long debated and decided, adopted parliamentary democracy as its chosen instrument for making a social and economic revolution rather than follow the historical path taken by Europe and Japan where it was an end product of a century and more of economic and social change. This must rank among the greatest political decisions of the 20th century, a promise to which India has held fast. The 15th Lok Sabha elections are in keeping with that pledge.
Poll drama
The current elections, of which four out of five phases have been completed, are basically no different from earlier elections except for the larger numbers involved. Despite all the heat generated about legislating a minimum one-third representation for women in the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies, sadly no party has nominated numbers proportionate to that goal. This election is unfortunately likely to go down as a more acrimonious, extravagant and open poll. Despite a great deal more effort at voters’ education and monitoring of the assets and criminal records of candidates, these ratios have not demonstrably declined. The current electoral laws do not debar spending beyond the limits prescribed for individual candidates by their parties and “friends”. According to the grape vine, the expenditure ceiling of...
More from FE Special
| Single Page Format | 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - Next |
Discuss this story on expressindia forums
|
|
 |
 |
 |
About Us | Contact Us | Advertisers | Site Map | Make us your homepage | Work for Us | RSS | Subscribe | Electronic Edition | Privacy Policy© 2010: The Indian Express Limited. All rights reserved throughout the world
