The elections are done and dusted as they say, with many losers and some winners. Of the winners, 251 have criminal cases against them including rape and murder. The merits or demerits of the winners are left to the reader for political debate; here are merely a few observations.
Having voted more times than I care to remember, the ink mark on previous occasions has resisted washing, sometimes for up to a month. On this occasion it started fading immediately and within 24 hours, had disappeared from the skin.
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I sincerely hope the explanation is something innocuous as poor-quality ink, and not some other diabolical connotation.
There was a lot of debate on the reliability of the EVMs, as in previous elections, from the time they were introduced. The challenge to hack into an EVM and demonstrate its vulnerability has never been met to my knowledge.
In any case, I for one have more faith in the anonymity of the EVM rather than the old ballot papers; and for good reason too. I was narrated a scam with the ballot papers which I found devilishly simple as it was amusing. A genuine voter enters the polling booth but does not cast his ballot. Instead, he comes out and delivers the unmarked ballot paper to his henchmen waiting outside. This ballot paper would then be marked as per the political leanings of this group. Any subsequent person (genuine voter) willing to make a quick buck could take this marked paper put it into the box and bring out his unmarked paper and collect his hafta. This would then be available to the next voter, in a never-ending chain. When I narrated this to a party worker with a view to curbing it, his reaction was “I was not aware; I must tell my people to also start this!”
The Supreme Court rightly rejected a set of three unrealistic demands related to the EVMs. These were: to replace the EVMs with ballot paper; 100% verification by VVPAT, and making available a physically verifiable VVPAT slip to place in the ballot box.
Justice Dipankar Datta felt that that the petitioners had wasted the court’s time by airing unfounded fears. But Justice Sanjeev Khanna seized the opportunity to dispel doubts about EVMs. In a bid to boost voter confidence, and enhance transparency, he suggested additional measures be implemented. The symbol loading units (SLUs) which feed the symbols of political parties into the VVPAT machine will be kept along with the EVMs (which include the ballot unit, VVPAT and control unit) in a sealed room for at least 45 days after the declaration of results. A losing candidate may seek inspection of 5% of the EVMs of his/her choice within seven days of the result.
The inspection by the manufacturers of the EVMs would entail examining the ‘burnt memory’ in these EVMs (ballot unit, control unit and VVPAT, besides the SLU). The verification process now comprises routine matching of EVM count and VVPAT slips in five polling stations in every assembly constituency, and an additional software inspection if a losing candidate so desires. It is hoped that this will end casual allegations against EVMs by losing candidates; who are quick to forget their objections when they win.
Quite apart from the EVM issue, the polling was by and large peaceful, barring a few isolated incidents, the most disturbing being in Manipur. In spite of very thoughtful provisions to combat the heat, the turnout was less than previous years. But the pre-election campaigns were the most vicious and vituperative ever. Outrageous claims and comments were made based on religion, cast, creed and reservations, matched by hate speeches of increasing intensity. And throughout, the EC sat by disgracefully impotent, lamely justifying the statements made or issuing equally lame warnings, made worse with the Form 17C controversy. Oh, for the glory days of T N Seshan!!
The only possible outcome of such campaigns will be to introduce deep divisions at a time when the country desperately needs unification if it is to succeed in achieving its place as a world power. Parties of all shades vied with each other on freebies. “Any freebie you can offer, I can do better” was the mantra. Party ‘A’ will give X amount to each woman. Party ‘B’ doubles it. Free rations increased with each campaign speech. What intrigues me is that if there has been such commendable progress in the lives of our people, why do we need to be tempted with freebies at all? But more importantly, where will the funding for all these promises come from. They are obviously, destined to fade from memory, like the promise of Rs 15 lakh into every citizen’s account from ‘black money unearthed’. But what was indeed disturbing was that none of the published manifestos had any plans for improving the commons man’s lot in vital issues like healthcare, education, clean drinking water, pollution, climate change and open defecation.
Instead, we earned the label of ‘electoral autocracy’ with opposition leaders raided, charged and targeted in every way possible including an unbridled attempt to muzzle press freedom and silence any form of criticism. Candidates were either bought off, blackmailed by baseless allegations, or tossed behind bars. Unadulterated poaching of politicians, sleazy schemes to discredit opposing leaders and ‘washing machine’ politics were the order of the day. Major sex scandals were swept under the carpet as being of no consequence. Even AIR, DD and Prasar Bharati were manipulated to cleverly and selectively alter key words and phrases when reporting campaign speeches.
We are rightly referred to as the world’s largest democracy, purely because of the sheer size of our population. We deserve credit for successfully managing the largest polling exercise ever. However, we must course correct and resist, at all costs, the drift towards earning a reputation of being the worlds’ most ‘flawed democracy’.
(The writer is a founder member of VHAG and past State President of the IMA)
