'Elections in India have become a business'

NEW DELHI: Some trivia is anything but trivial.Especially when it is to do with prospective policy makers of the country. Likethat the number of political parties registered in India at the moment is 810and growing. The number has gone up from a little over 500 in thelast 18 to 20 months following the extension of tax benefits to both the donorand the recipient in the case of funds to political parties, notes the ChiefElection Commissioner of India, N Gopalaswami, with a wry smile. Atan exclusive interaction with the web editions of on Tuesday,the CEC shared his hopes for an electoral process that would not need securityand a civil society that would share in the process rather than shun it. Expressing his “anguish” at the growing desire of“community service”, the CEC likened the modern-day electoralprocess to running a business. “Everybody is just dying toserve the community, and is willing to take any step possible under the sun.Elections in India have assumed the role of a business, and everyone wants towin it at any cost,” he said, elaborating that candidates routinely triedanything from bogus voting to intimidation.However, he clarifiedthat even this spirit for community service was missing in urban India. Harpingon the divorced relationship that the urban electorate shares with the franchiseprocess in the country, the CEC, who has been the talk of the town recently,said that urban apathy towards the electoral process isbad.“Urban India doesn’t expect anything. It knows thereis no advantage from the process, and therefore chooses to remain aloof fromit,” Goplaswami reiterated.Drawing the parallel of Lucknowwhich witnessed 27-30% voting turnout in the recently-concluded Assembly pollswith that of suburban Mohanlal Ganj that saw 43% turnout, the CEC emphasisedthat there does exist general apathy in the urban areas. When asked, ifcompulsory voting could be the answer to do away with such apathy, he replied inthe negative.There seems to be no reform that one can suggest whichthe CEC has not considered. Many of them are encapsulated in the suggestionsmade by the Election Commission, which are yet to find a political nod. Amongthese, the division of votes through manipulation of caste calculations, needsimmediate addressing, the CEC said. In order to make theelectoral process more credible and sound, and increase voter confidence intheir elected representatives, he suggested that a 50 plus one per cent winmargin must be made mandatory for all those testing their luck at thebooths.“A 50 plus one per cent win will check dummy candidatesfrom splitting the vote and skewing the overall balance,” Gopalaswamisaid.Citing the instance of Jharkhand, where around 94.83% of thewinners had scored less than 50% margin in the previous elections, the CEC wenton to say that this will also stem the entry of non-serious entrants fromgetting into the political fray and fragmenting the votes.For theman who played a pivotal role in delivering “free and fair” polls inUttar Pradesh, implementing an electoral process with minimum glitcheswasn’t easy in democratic India’s largest state. Fromdeleting 56 lakh names from the voters list to tracking down interlopers andabsconders (including deleting 180 unconnected names from a village close to thethen CM’s constituency) to doing an analysis of the male-female ratio inorder to understand the voters gender bend, the CEC left no stoneunturned.When asked to comment on the two-party system mooted byPresident Kalam, Gopalaswami ruled out anything of this sort in the near future.Elaborating that such a method doesn’t hold good in the Indian scheme ofthings, the CEC said that India still has a long way to go.