The book Costs of Democracy–Political Finance in India, edited by Devesh Kapur and academic Milan Vaishnav, digs into the lacunae present in the electoral systems of India. The editor-authors say the government-dominated banking system and public sector contracts allow politicians and bureaucrats “to exchange regulatory or policy favours for financial contributions”. Also, poor law enforcement has hampered the transparency and disclosure laws.
And that is not all. Vaishnav, who is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC, says the richest 20 per cent of the candidates are 23 times more likely to win than the poorest 20 per cent of the candidates. "We are at a place now where 34 per cent of Lok Sabha MPs face criminal cases, 21 per cent of Lok Sabha MPs face serious cases. These are cases that if there were a conviction would merit real jail time. This is not just a national phenomenon. Approximately 31 per cent of MLAs face cases and 15 per cent of MLAs face serious cases," he said.
In the midst of all this, the Election Commission of India has struggled mightily to rein in rogue leaders.
That is where the 10th Election Commissioner of India, T.N. Seshan, who passed away yesterday at the age of 86 yesterday, comes into the conversation. He ruthlessly enforced the Model Code of Conduct and led the game-changing electoral reforms in the 1990s. Known for his no-nonsense attitude, Seshan was credited with ushering in major electoral reforms during his tenure as the 10th CEC between December 12, 1990, and December 11, 1996.
Till he took over, political parties ferrying people to the polling stations were considered quite "normal," and it was during Seshan's stint that it became impossible with the model code being made sacrosanct. Also, he ensured that bogus voting was averted to a large extent.
From deploying election observers for fair play to fixing election schedules in a staggered fashion to help station security forces and rule out then-infamous "booth capturing," especially in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Seshan led a slew of initiatives some of which invited the wrath of parties. He was bold enough to cancel elections in Punjab in 1991 to see that the poll process was not vitiated by violence.
In 1994, he asked the prime minister to remove cabinet members Sitaram Kesari and Food Minister Kalpnath Rai, stating that they were involved in influencing voters and violating the model code of conduct that was in place ahead of the elections, reported The NewsMinute.
Such reforms were unheard of till he took over as the 10th chief election commissioner in 1990. In his zealous mission to cleanse the electoral system, he earned the wrath of politicians, including late AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa who had hit out at him for being "arrogant."
He had won kudos and laurels as well including the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1996 for exemplary work in public, government service.
The citation had said: "He took stern measures to prevent vote buying. He banned ostentatious campaign displays and noisy rallies and required candidates to clean up walls and buildings defaced with their slogans. He enforced spending limits and required contestants to submit full accounts of their expenses for scrutiny by independent government inspectors. He exposed politicians who made illicit use of public resources for electioneering and prohibited election-eve bonanzas for government workers. He banned the sale of liquor and seized unlicensed firearms at election time. He prohibited election propaganda based on religion."
The legendary Seshan was not keeping good health for the past couple of years and he passed away at about 9.30pm.
