Elections in India have lost the carnival spirit because no processions, no buntings, no bands and no posters are allowed by the Election Commission. But this has not decreased the expenses. UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa which went to polls have totalled the highest amount ever spent in state elections. The rough guess is around Rs20 billion (Dh1.5 billion). Proportionately, Punjab was at the top of the ladder.
The Election Commission can do little because the money is distributed at unknown places, generally at night. No Lokpal can detect this because the purchase of vote is at the individual level. And each constituency has hundreds of hands employed by political parties in the name of preparations. They have to search their heart if the illegal money which they spend bothers them in any way. But then they are driven by the mania of power.
In our times, a volunteer would sling a thaila (bag), carry grams for sustenance and go on foot. This was canvassing at the grassroots. Today even a party worker would ask for a jeep for travel and expect four meals, starting from breakfast.
The Election Commission has confiscated nearly Rs500 million and some trucks carrying liquor. Instances of ‘paid news' have also been spotted for action. But all this does not amount to even one per cent of money the candidates and political parties have spent. Yet the credit of making the polling peaceful goes to the Election Commission or, for that matter, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi. He stretched the polling over six weeks so that the central security forces were available in all the five states.
Code of conduct
One thing which stands out in elections is the enforcement of the model code of conduct, agreed upon by all political parties some 20 years ago. The ruling Congress is the only party to join issue with the commission on this point and has threatened to make the code statutory so that the violation is dragged to law courts instead of the Election Commission where the action is immediate and the complaint is attended to forthwith.
Starting from Law Minister Salman Khurshid to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the party has paid scant attention to the model code. It has even played the religious card by announcing that the party, if returned to power, would allocate 9 per cent of reservation to Muslims in education and employment from the overall 27 per cent reservation for the backward classes. (According to the Sachar Committee report the plight of Muslims in India is worse than that of Dalits and that 80 per cent of Muslims are backward). When the Election Commission took the law minister to task for announcing a sub-quota during electioneering, he first hummed and hawed but subsequently sent a written apology. The matter would have ended then and there if another central minister Beni Prasad had not repeated the sub-quota for Muslims. He has even challenged the commission in a law court. Nobody objects to reservations for backward Muslims. The objection is to reservation on religious grounds — the point which the constitution of India prohibits.
Rahul has been batting on a different pitch. He has been indulging in such antics which do not befit a person who may be India's prime minister. He tears the manifesto of an opposition party and makes remarks which even street urchins would hesitate to make. A case has been registered against him at Kanpur where he had a road show violating the understanding on the timing and the route he gave.
In fact, UP saw the entire Gandhi family, including the husband of Priyanka, Sonia Gandhi's daughter. The dynasty somehow has come to believe that it alone strings India together and all political parties are petty and parochial except the Congress. Therefore, the dynasty gathered in UP to pull out the party from a quagmire of non-existence it had been stuck for years. Muslims constitute about 19 per cent of the electorate and the Congress has jettisoned its secular credentials to placate them.
The BJP is expected to communalise the atmosphere. The BJP did not have to get Chief Minister Narendra Modi of Gujarat pogrom fame to UP because Uma Bharti had poured enough venom against Muslims.
Unfortunately, the use of caste or, more so, the sub-caste has increased in every segment of activity even in urban areas. This malady has spread even among Muslims who are prohibited from putting their faith in the caste system. In fact, many Hindus have embraced Islam to escape the tyranny of discrimination. But they find the Muslim society as hierarchical as the Hindus.
Elections have been free and fair and the commission deserves all the kudos. But when money, caste and religion come into play and make a mockery of polls, can they be called free and fair? This is one question which all political parties have to answer, not the Election Commission which has been awaiting for months for the government's permission not to allow candidates who have been charged with crimes like murders, rapes or armed robbery.
Kuldip Nayar is a former Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and a former Rajya Sabha member.