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12 May 2004
One-day national
At this moment, thousands of curious looking key-boards called electronic voting machines are being processed around India. Seldom has the whole electoral process captured interest in such a forceful manner as it has this year. It all started with what in retrospect seems a rather overconfident move by the National Democratic Alliance, the ruling coalition, to dissolve the thirteenth Lok Sabha months ahead of regular schedule intending to capitalise on what was thought to be a widespread feeling of euphoria at the good economic growth and breakthroughs on Kashmir. Likewise and months earlier, Chandrababu Naidu -- now soon to be former chief minister -- dissolved the Andhra Pradesh assembly to hold elections ahead of the routine. Yesterday, Mr Naidu suffered a humiliating defeat to the Congress-TRS alliance which won by a landslide. From the looks of it, the NDA seems headed for a similar debacle at the national level in that they may not be in such a comfortable position to stake a claim to forming a government as they had earlier boasted of.Months ago, I had stated that a bi-party system would never work in a country like India but now I wish that I were wrong. It is laughable that tomorrow, when all shall be taken into account, strong regional parties like the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, even the miniscule breakaway faction of the Congress party led by Mr Sharad Pawar shall in fact, and pardon the cliché, call the shots. The Greeks had a name for this -- oligarchy. A bitter irony that the world's largest democracy is now precisely that.
What is mildly intriguing (though by no means a surprise) is that while in each state, and bless our forefathers for having the foresight to stipulate a federal system, mandates are being delivered in clear and unequivocal terms while in New Delhi we have what is now a weary and much-feared situation -- a hung assembly. As the country seems to be moving ever forward towards a well-delegated federal structure, the purpose of a nationwide election along the lines of the current system is rather moot and seems to disregard the very basis of our constitution. Ideally, an electoral process more like what is being followed in the United States is what should be followed in India and any other federal union of states -- the presidential form, where people vote for parties in their respective state governments based on policies that affect them most and for prime ministerial candidates at the national scene instead of parties again. I would love to engage in a good debate that discusses the pros and cons of the two forms.
