Compulsory Voting & Our Democracy (2) – – Prof R R Pillai
Very often Rajya Sabha is used by political parties to bring back the defeated candidates into the parliament through backdoor by exercising their voting power in the Rajya Sabha. These backdoor candidates also head ministries.How can people feel comfortable to see the defeated candidate occupying the post of the minister ,when what people wanted was his ouster. This serious flaw in our democracy should be corrected forthwith to bring in the trust among the people for large scale participation in the elections.
Many seasoned politicians are getting hardened. Since the system doesn’t hit hard with exemplary punishments on the corrupt politicians swiftly and confiscate the ill gotten wealth ,the brazen criminal abuse of power continues on the one hand and on the other voters apathy .Actually the politicians feel quite comfortable at the non interest of well informed voters’ in elections.For it is easy to get the votes of the other sections by hook or crook. But this is not a good sign for our democracy.
The unabated harrowing experience of the urban middle class between two elections makes it difficult for them to cast away these on an election day and come out and vote . When one has to negotiate day in and day out the illegal hawkers, potholes, bottlenecks due to delay in completing the infrastructure projects, in a an economically well positioned city like Mumbai voters apathy is well justified. Well informed people cannot be brought out of their homes to vote for politicians who failed to deliver on their promise.
Instead of looking at people for solutions, for increasing voter participation in our democracy ,the political class should look inwards for cleaning the corrupt political system in the first place. People want the corrupt politicians to be punished and out of the electoral fray. May be for a few terms or permanently depending upon the seriousness of the abuse and corruption. This will enhance the trust in the democratic process and voter participation is bound to increase.
In an urban set up like Mumbai it has become the norm of the day for politicians to depend upon the slum voters for their victory since their numbers are many fold . All types of corrupt means are being employed to get these voters. politicians have corrupted the common people with bribes in cash and kind to get them out and vote. Common people find quite tough to hold on to the high moral grounds and not get corrupted for too long a time and soon lot many fall in line.And many politicians win the elections by foul means than fair. In this scenario how can one expect the well meaning voters in an urban set up to exercise their franchise in large numbers.
Often voters living in an organised legal housing societies find their names missing in the painstakingly made voters list by the government at a huge cost.Voter’s photo identity card project is quite sloppy. Added to these are the Electronic Voting Machines’ woes. Engineers have proved that the EVMs can be tampered with in many ways to ensure success of the desired candidate. Our Election Commission is yet to come on the TV channels and clear the air. In this background of our corrupt and unfair election process minister Moily wants to introduce compulsory voting .
How about introducing a law to recall the candidate who is inept and corrupt . That will keep the candidate under pressure to perform . Voters too will then have an incentive to participate in large numbers to get the right candidate elected.Persuading voters to play their role will be effective once the election process is free of malpractices.Voters will feel their votes carry the right value and come out and vote in large numbers to elect the right candidate through fair means.
Money is necessary in the election process. It must be ensured that money is used only to the extent required to inform the voters of the competence and the work done by the candidate. Money should not flow in to influence the voters as a reward for voting in favour of a candidate.
Politicians declare their personal wealth as required under the present laws . This comprises of their deposits with banks, cars, houses etc.But many politicians are on the board of cooperatives, trusts, both private and public and have at their command vast perks provided by these. The valuations of these must also be calculated and added to the list of the resources at their command.
Thus unless political institutions are clean and ensure non corrupt fair electoral process no amount of compulsions to vote through laws will make any difference to voters’ apathy.
In Greek one meaning of an idiot is, a person who doesn’t vote. But I am sure the Greek wouldn’t have allowed a scamster to contest an election in the first place, as our system allows here. If the non voters need to be reformed through compulsory voting laws equally there is an urgency to exorcise the demon politicians whose greed is emaciating our democracy at a faster rate than the voters’ apathy. In the immediate, political institutions should look inwards for solutions.Outward solutions can follow for strengthening our democracy through larger participation of our voters.
