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Elections: Emerging signs of political maturity

- K.Sriraj

As with everything connected with India, the General Election is also a very colossal exercise. Apart from the usual curiosity of new government, political analysts are also viewing the ongoing election process with interest for emerging trends viz. the likely emergence of a bi-polar polity, the increasing use of technology and controversial topics being put on the back burner.

India's political system has evolved since independence. Till the 1990s, the Indian National Congress used to be the dominant party both at the national and state level. But the emergence of regional parties in the states for eg. The TDP in Andhra Pradesh, the DMK and later the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu marked the beginning of the endof Congress' domination in the States. This was soon followed in the 1990s by a spate of coalition governments at the centre, beginning with the National Front government of V.P.Singh, followed by the United Front government of Deve Gowda and then by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of A.B.Vajpayee. The NDA's success in completing its tenure of five years has proved all those doubting whether a coalition government can be effective wrong. The current pre-election scene is witnessing a new phenomenon. The two national parties viz. the BJP and the Congress-I are working hard to strew up alliances with state-level parties. Thus the Congress has either sewn up alliances, or is in the process of doing so, with almost 20 parties like the PDP in J&K; the RJD in Bihar, with the possibility of Paswan's Lok Janshakti joining in; the NCP and RPI in Maharashtra, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in Andhra Pradesh; the DMK, MDMK and PMK in Tamil Nadu; the MGP in Goa; the breakaway group of the BJD in Orissa; the Kerala Congress, Muslim League, and others in Kerala. The Congress, despite Mayawati's tantrums is hoping to have a tie-up with the BSP in Haryana, Punjab, and Delhi. In addition to this is the attempt by the CPI (M) general secretary H.K.S. Surjeet to come up with of ''two fronts'' that will ''jointly but separately'' fight the BJP in the general elections. One front will comprise the Congress and its allies, and the second include the Left and other anti-BJP forces. On the other hand the ruling NDA consists of 13 parties including the Samata Party, the Janata Dal (United), Shiv Sena, Trinamul Congress and now the AIADMK among others. This nascent division into two broad fronts arouses hope that the Indian polity is slowly but surely becoming similar to the two-party system as found in the developed countries. The change in the attitude of the political parties in the States could also be the result of a realisation that sharing of resources through partnership with the Centre is better for them than getting them through confrontation. This new line of thinking could also be effect of the gains achieved by the Telugu Desam for Andhra Pradesh, the Akali Dal for Punjab and the Trinamool Congress for Bengal during the BJP rule at the Centre have examples.

These General Elections is also perhaps being keenly watched for the use of technology in the form of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Nearly, 10,75,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will 'digitise' the poll outcome in all the parliamentary constituencies for the first time. If effective this could not only result in quicker announcement of results, reduction in malpractices like vote duplication but also put stop to all talk that since a majority of the electorate are illiterate modern equipments would not work in India. It will also back the formal study of the use of EVMs that was conducted by the Centre for Study of Developing Societies(CSDS) on behalf of the Election Commission of India. This had shown that more than 95% of the electors had welcomed the use of EVMs.

'India Shining' has emerged as a key issue. The actual issue is not whether India is shining or not - it is development. The BJP feels that the economy is performing well and has quickly made development its campaign theme. It has quietly pushed, at least for now, the controversial Ayodhya issue under the carpet. The Congress has reacted to this by pointing to the flaws in the so-called development. If these arguments and counter-arguments are taken in the right sense, the nation's development plan can be charted out in a bi-partisan manner.

Indian political scenario, however, continues to be afflicted by certain defects. Apart from the issue of development, the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi, the so-called dynastic rule in the Congress, Hindutva continue to attract more attention. The formation of a Congress-led front against the NDA is also in doubt. This is because of the Left-Congress relations. While the CPI (M) has identified the BJP as its main adversary at the national level, its main enemy in strongholds of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura is the Congress. Similarly, the ''Janata Parivar'' led by the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka is the main adversary of the Congress in Karnataka.

In conclusion, the General Elections have given rise to hopes of a new level of political maturity similar to the one seen in the developed countries. A likely result of this political maturity would be that decisions be it privitisation or foreign policy will be bi-partisan instead of the partisan tones it has today.

To read more on the elections click the links below:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/2004/Feb/17/181_537613,00300001.htm

http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=39083

http://www.business-standard.com/today/story.asp?Menu=26&story=36032

Click on the links to view the articles :

	The Privatisation Conundrum
	Elections: Emerging signs of political maturity?
	Should Education be made free?
	Outsourcing: Striking the Right Balance
	India Shining
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