Elections, elections… crave for a TN Seshan
India Today’s prized journalist and news anchor Rajdeep Sardesai concludes his presentations with the epithet: News without noise. In recent months this appears an oxymoron. TV news has been increasingly high decibel, noisy affairs. In the discussion programmes it is a common sight for participants drowning one another’s voice. NDTV and News Today can take some credit for attempting the exception, not always succeeding.
Elections to the four states and one UT have thrown to the winds civilities. The centre stage was occupied by election campaign in West Bengal. After 10 years in power, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) which has decimated the leftists and the Congress opposition, faces a formidable antagonist in the BJP. The nationalist party has fielded its top brass led by Prime Minister Modi. Other top guns of the BJP – Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President J P Nadda and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, ably assisted by the well-organised cadres of RSS and the party, have been relentless in their campaigns against the TMC.
UNCONCERN of LEADERS OVER speed of Covid-19
A few factors are characteristic of the campaigns. The significant one was the unconcern on the part of the leaders over the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The election campaigns led by Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee witnessed crowds assembled in several lakhs.
Even while the leaders professed their preoccupation on containment, they seem to be totally apathetic/negligent over the risk of the contagion spreading. West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, among other states, are today witnessing such a spread. Will any leader own responsibility for this negligence? The absence of one like T N Seshan at the EC is poignantly felt.
The technology for mobilisation of such crowds had been perfected over time. Remember the DMK and the AIADMK bringing supporters in thousands for their conferences from all over Tamil Nadu? With the free use of money power such mobilisation has expanded multi-fold.
Money power and corruption were again at play. Decades back Tamil Nadu introduced the cash-for-votes formula under the lead of DMK’s MK Alagiri. This has been refined and re-refined over time to escape the surveillance of the Election Commission. Over Rs 1000 crore in cash and liquor plus huge quantities of gift items including gold, silver and appliances were seized. We have listed in an earlier issue a token system and the innocuous moi (presents) at religious functions as other means to bribe the voter. The EC lacks the teeth to end or even curb the practice. This Tamil Nadu technology is gaining traction in other states.
Of course, the major casualty is administration. With senior ministers engaged in the campaigns for weeks and the embargo on new development schemes, state administration remains paralysed for weeks.
TOO LONG A SCHEDULE…
The campaigns were accompanied by violence and murders that were sought to be contained by the Election Commission (EC), taking charge of the administration and by liberal deployment of Central Security Forces (CSF). The EC has ordered an eight-phase election for West Bengal spread across a month. With elections for other states over on 06 April, one wonders whether the EC should have prolonged the polling in West Bengal till the end of April.
Down south elections to the assemblies of Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu were relatively quieter events. AIADMK’s Chief Minister E K Palaniswami and DMK’s M K Stalin started their election campaigns well ahead and covered the entire state to punishing schedules. However, they lacked second line leaders to campaign.
ELECTIONS IN MORE STATES IN 2022…
Political parties in Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh will begin preparations for elections in the next few months. This schedule would again witness administrations grinding to a halt in these states and the spectacle of top BJP leaders moving frequently in and out of New Delhi.
IE is inclined to align with the PM’s idea of simultaneous elections to the Centre, states and municipalities at one go once in five years. Former Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy has pointed to the difficulty of mobilising men and material, especially the Central Security Forces for such a mammoth task. Still looking at the colossal wastage of resources, especially the precious man hours of the PM, CMs and other senior ministers in frequent campaigns for elections at some part or other of India, this reform appears necessary.
