Three Cheers for Election Commission of India
The worldⳠ
largest democracy has more than 710 million voters on its roll (out of
which 417 million voted in 2009 general elections). The total number of
Indian voters is almost equivalent to the total number of voters in Europe
and America combined. It is not an easy task to conduct elections with
such a gigantic number of electorate.
Election Commission of India deserves a huge credit for conducting 2009
general elections, broadly a free and fair manner without much loss of
life. There were times in the early 70Ⳡto mid 90ⳬ when the number
of people losing their lives in elections ran in to hundreds across the
country. Rigging was also not uncommon in the cow belt. However, in the
last 2 to 3 general elections, the overall atmosphere has improved and
the Election Commission has been able to control the process of conducting
elections in a free and fair manner and mostly to the satisfaction of
all the stake holders concerned.
Election Commission of India has also introduced technology and with the
aid of e-governance, it has been able to achieve many milestones. The
electronic voting machine, which replaced the paper based voting system,
has also been an effort towards safeguarding our climate inasmuch as with
the saving in paper, we have saved trees by thousands. Further electronic
voting machine has led to fast counting of votes and faster declaration
of results.
ECI has also huge information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure
available in the country, which has paid rich dividends in the process
of conducting elections.
Shri T.N. Sheshan perhaps initiated the first set of bold majors for conducting
free and fair elections and his successors have continued the his efforts.
Let us hope ECI will find some means to cut down on the time limit of
spreading out voting over a month.
Three cheers for the Election Commission of India.
Why
the idea of Third Front failed
The idea of third front in the run up in General Elections of 2009 was a failed idea from the word ᧯⮠Previously in 1996, the third front was led by a major constituent, the then ኡnta Dal⬠which had in its wings, leaders from Sh. Om Prakash Chautala in Haryana, to Sh. Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sh. Ajit Singh in U.P., Sh. Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sh. Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan in Bihar and Biju Patnaik in Orissa and late Sh. Ram Krishna Hegdge in Karnataka. Janta Dal was the fulcrum around which other smaller parties like TDP, DMK, the left and others joined in to give it a strong support base. Yet, the Government formation in 1996 by the third front would not have been possible without the support of the Congress Party.
Now, the old Janta Dal of 1996 is no more and has split into virtually one dozen segments. The left parties having left the Dr. Manmohan Singh government on the issue of Nuclear deal wanted to grab a new space, which was virtual and not real. They tried to bring in such disparate elements as BSP, AIADMK and TDP etc, the only common ground among them being that these parties had an exclusive jurisdiction not adversely affecting the other regional parties.
People could not be fooled by watching half a dozen leaders at the stage together, after which each one spoke and behaved differently. Moreover, there was no ideology behind the entire exercise. All the parties in the third front had in fact danced with Congress or the BJP at one time or another, so it was difficult convincing the electorate about their purity in becoming a viable ᮯn-Congress or non-BJP⠣ombine.
But what happened to the Left parties themselves. We are reminded of a serial by Jaspal Bhatti relayed in sometime 1992-93, where Jaspal Bhatti as a tough ruffian had specialized in evicting the tenants. While he was on the job of evicting a particular tenant and was throwing out the belongings of the tenant, he receives a call that his own house was being forcibly vacated and his belongings were being thrown out on the road. Jaspal Bhatti rushed to his house leaving his own operation in the middle.
Perhaps this is the best comparison of the leftⳠhighly ambitious role that they were seeking to play at the national stage, leaving their own backyard insecure and unsafe.
In hind sight, the left though deserves some credit for providing stable governments to the country. Firstly, they were part of UPA for nearly 4ears providing anchor to Dr. Manmohan SinghⳠgovernment. And now by ceding their own territory in West Bengal and Kerala to the Congress Party, left has indirectly become the prime mover for providing a stable government at the center by the Congress Party and their allies.
The idea of a third front under the Left Front should be given a deep burial for ever, if India has to emerge as a strong country at the International level. There is no option to a two party system in the long run, as is prevalent in the mature democracies of the west: in USA, UK, Germany, France, and so forth. Party system should be designed on the principles of equity and fair play. It should offer ample opportunities for every sections of society, so that ordinary citizens of this country can occupy the highest positions within the party and the government.
Left parties have a role to play in this country. They are the ones, who
have assiduously raised the issues for the common man and influenced the
policies of the national parties, who otherwise shy away for taking radical
measures for the benefit of bottom most strata of people. In their absence,
there can be a danger of national parties working totally under the influence
of a small, powerful and influential section of people.
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