2014 General Election in our
country is round the corner. The first phase of the election is less than a
month away. Expectedly the political scene is warming up with the contestants
plunging headlong into the election battle.
The political as well as the
atmospheric heat is going to intensify in the coming days and by the time the
election process begins in mid April the deadly combination of political and
atmospheric heat can be unbearable for the contestants. But our political
aspirants are brave hearts and are prepared to go to any length, to undertake
any hardship to succeed in their mission to serve us, the people of this
country. They say that their hearts bleed for the people of this great country
especially the poor, the downtrodden and the minorities and therefore theirs
bull’s eyes are the Parliament from where they can serve the suffering
humanities. Some cynics and their
numbers are quite large who however feel that the lure of power and the endless
perks and privileges that come with it and the opportunity to amass wealth are
the driving force behind the mission of our leaders. But then our leaders are
too thick skinned and mentally too strong to be affected either by the
scorching heat of the impending summer or the uncharitable remarks of the
cynics. They do not care about the reports that keep coming occasionally that
their assets have doubled or trebled within five years of their getting elected
to the positions of power.
While election campaign has
already started in full swing, with all too familiar endless speeches by the
contestants and rallies organised by different political parties, rhetoric and
barbs, posters and graffiti on the walls, expert analysis and debates on the
press and electronic media, we find some new interesting features in this
General Election like campaigning through social net working sites and most
interestingly the sharp rise in the number of Prime Ministerial aspirants.
While the number of candidates keeps on increasing every year, this year being
no exception, there had not been any occasion in the past where there had been
so large number of claimants for the post of Prime Minister. On a very conservative estimate there are at
least eight claimants for this high position this year. A large number of regional leaders have
expressed their aspirations for this position. These satraps are the supremos
in their respective regional parties and are using their leverage to clamour
for more powers for the states in the name of federalism. Each of these regional leaders wants to have
at least a decisive say in formation of the next Government at the centre if
not the position of Prime Minister for himself or herself.
All political parties
including the two big national parties it appears have come to the conclusion
that there is no alternative to coalition Government at the centre. This is in
spite of not so happy experience of the working of the coalition Governments of
the past. The pulls and pushes of the various coalition partners had hampered
smooth functioning of the Government and prevented formulating many policies
and programmes. The word policy paralysis has come to be associated with this type
of coalition Government. While the two
big parties are desperately trying to get as many allies as possible, the
various smaller and regional parties are weighing the pros and cons before
deciding which side to align with. Some parties are keeping their option open
till the election results are out.
Ours is a democratic country
where we should be having a Government for the people, of the people, by the
people as they say. Democracy means a form of Government in which the people
can vote for their representatives to govern the state on their behalf.
Election on the basis of adult franchise is therefore the most important ingredient
of democracy. However in a democracy people’s participation in governing is
limited to exercising their franchise and electing their representatives for
the various levels of the Government. People have actually no say in the actual
running of the Government which is left to the elected representatives. It is
therefore of utmost importance that the right type of people are elected as our
representatives. It is unfortunate that people with dubious background and no
proven record of competence not only contest but also get elected and occupy
high positions of power. No political party has shown any inclination to amend
the electoral laws to prevent the entry of people with criminal background into
the electoral fray. Notwithstanding the efforts of Election Commission and the
Supreme Court to cleanse the election system, not much has been achieved in
this direction mainly because of unwillingness of all the political parties to
cleanse the system.
